Page 2693 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 29 June 2010
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
It is not unreasonable to expect that territory-owned corporations should be subject to similar levels of accountability in governance as their public sector counterparts, or, indeed, private sector corporations. In making that statement, I do acknowledge the comments in scrutiny report No 24 of 28 June about the engagement of privacy principles. Indeed, those very human rights issues were at the top of the mind in developing this bill and, indeed, have been at the top of the mind in terms of the discussions I have had with territory-owned corporations in the past when concerns have been raised by members of this place in various committee hearings and, indeed, publicly.
There is a community expectation that the level and types of remuneration paid should be able to be separately identified. This is more than justifiable given the ability for the directors and executives to make decisions which can have a major impact on the community. Fully disclosing the remuneration details for each individual is fundamental to satisfy the need for integrity and accountability of those persons responsible for making decisions which directly influence the operational performance of a territory-owned corporation.
As provided for in the bill, the change in the reporting requirements is intended to first appear in the 2009-10 annual report; hence the need for the urgent consideration of this bill. The level of information to be disclosed will be no more and no less than is required under the accounting standard that applies to disclosing the remuneration of key personnel.
The information to be disclosed in accordance with that standard includes the name of the person and the position held, as well as the amount and kind of remuneration that they receive. It is in keeping with the disclosure requirements that apply to any publicly listed company. I am advised that the new disclosure requirements simply replicate the standards applying to publicly listed companies. Indeed, if we did not list the names, it would contravene the accounting standards, resulting in a qualified audit report.
Even so—and I think this is where it is difficult—the Assembly cannot have it both ways. We cannot want increased accountability around the salaries paid to senior staff within territory-owned corporations that operate here in the territory but then seek to protect them through being cognisant of privacy and human rights issues. The subject of this bill is simply to accept, I think, a community view that, for territory-owned corporations, the remuneration of senior staff should be public, as it is with other public companies, and all of our executives within the ACT public service as well.
It will be a feature of each annual report—going to Ms Hunter’s more comprehensive report—to separately disclose the remuneration details of each director as well as the remuneration details of up to five of the most highly paid executives or senior managers as defined in the bill. After the legislation has been enacted, the Department of Treasury will issue a practice note to facilitate consistency and clarity of the remuneration reporting requirement in the annual report for each territory-owned corporation.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video