Paul
Hohnen Visit to Australia
ACCSR is proud to welcome
Paul Hohnen back to Australia in February,
after his successful series of workshops and
events with ACCSR in 2006 and 2005. Paul’s
first hand involvement in shaping international
policies for CSR and sustainability, and his
expertise in global trends, risks and opportunities
make him a highly sought after speaker. For
information about Paul, visit http://www.hohnen.net
Paul is available for private briefings with
management and leadership teams from 6-9 February,
2007. Please contact Dr
Leeora Black for more information
or phone 03 9576 1694.
ASX Review of Corporate Governance
Principles
The Australian Stock Exchange
(ASX) has released its Explanatory and Consultation
Papers concerning the revised Principles and
Recommendations of the ASX Corporate Governance
Council. Consolidating recent developments
like CLERP 9 and reflecting emerging reporting
trends, especially relating to reporting social
and environmental impacts and issues, these
papers examine the role of the ASX in addressing
sustainability and discuss whether Principle
Seven should be redrafted to incorporate additional
reporting requirements to accommodate sustainability
risks.
Copies of the Explanatory Paper and the Consultation
Paper can be downloaded from the ASX website
at http://www.asx.com.au/supervision/governance/principles_good_corporate_governance.htm.
If you would like to make a submission regarding
the ASX review of the Corporate Governance
Principles, please email the ASX at regulatorypolicy@asx.com.au or
post your submission to the ASX Regulatory
Policy Unit, Level 7, 20 Bridge Street, Sydney
NSW 2000. Submissions are due by the 9
February 2007.
ACCSR is preparing a submission
to the ASX Corporate Governance Council Review,
and will provide an Occasional Paper on the
topic in a future update.
ACCSR Year in Review
2006 has been a wonderful year of growth
and development for ACCSR. We would like to
thanks our clients for their confidence and
trust and especially offer congratulations
to the following clients for outstanding CSR
achievements in 2006:
Transurban
Ltd published its first sustainability report this
year, was listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability
Index for the first time, and was listed on
the Climate
Leadership Index for Australia and New Zealand
of the Carbon Disclosure Project
Westpac completed
a comprehensive stakeholder review of its Stakeholder
Impact Report, continued to top the banking
sector in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index,
and charted new territory in CSR communications
in Australia with the launch of its television
advertisement referencing the Equator Principles.
The Australian
Council of Super Investors has joined the UN Principles for Responsible
Investors and is now working to help its members
incorporate environmental and social and governance
considerations into ownership policies and
practices and investment decision-making.
This year our in-house and public workshops
have become increasingly popular. Our interactive
CSR strategy workshop, ExperienceCSR was again a winner, with public programs in
Melbourne and Sydney and in-house programs
for the Credit Union Foundation of Australia
and Melbourne Cares. Our public workshops on
CSR Communications (with Paul Hohnen) and stakeholder
engagement (with Ann Svendsen) were very highly
rated by participants from over 30 leading
companies. Customised CSR executive development
and learning programs were provided for a range
of corporations, not for profit organisations
and government businesses.
We thank all our clients and workshop participants
and wish you all a healthy and happy festive
season and new year.
ACCSR
Recruitment
ACCSR is seeking a consultant to join us
in early 2007, to contribute to all aspects
of our business, including the learning programs,
consultancy and research services. A higher
degree in business, sustainability or corporate
social responsibility, plus two years experience
in CSR service delivery or SRI are pre-requisites.
To obtain a position description, email leeorablack@accsr.com.au
In-house
Workshops on Corporate Social Responsibility
ACCSR has released its new catalogue of in-house
workshops that help private and public sector
organisations develop better internal capabilities
in corporate social responsibility. Comprising
14 different modules, ACCSR’s in-house
workshop program has been specifically developed
to address the needs of Australian managers,
while drawing on an extensive body of international
knowledge and practice.
ACCSR Learning Modules include:
- Introduction to Corporate Social Responsibility
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Stakeholder Relationships
- Predicting Stakeholder Action
- Introduction to Stakeholder dialogue
- The CSR Communications Framework
- Managing CSR issues
- CSR Performance Measurement
- CSR Reporting
- CSR Strategy and tactics
Call ACCSR on 03 9576 1694 or email us at workshop@accsr.com.au to
request the catalogue or discuss how we meet
your organisation’s CSR learning needs.
TURNING POINT: Presenter Biographies
The Honourable Bob Carr
Bob Carr was born in 1947 and educated
at Matraville High School and the University
of New South Wales.
As a journalist he worked for ABC Radio and
The Bulletin. After his election as Member
for Maroubra in 1983, he held portfolios in
the Wran and Unsworth Governments: Minister
for Planning and Environment from 1984 to 1988
and Minister for Heritage from 1986 to 1988.
Bob Carr was Leader of the Opposition from
1988 until his election as Premier in March
1995. He was re-elected in 1999 and again in
March 2003, securing an historic third four-year
term. He recently retired from politics after
10 years as Premier of the State of New South
Wales – the longest continuous term served
by any Premier in NSW history.
His achievements include:
- AAA credit rating for New South Wales
.
- Record spending on infrastructure.
- Hosting the most successful Olympic Games
ever.
- Record high literacy levels among school
students
- the creation of more than 350 new national
parks in NSW;
- Forbes magazine has called Bob Carr a “dragon
slayer” for his landmark tort law reforms.
- Bob Carr has received wide international
recognition including the Fulbright Distinguished
Fellow Award Scholarship and World Conservation
Union International Parks Merit Award, and
is a member of the International Climate
Change Taskforce.
Dr Cornis van der Lugt
A South African by birth (1967),
Cornis van der Lugt is based in Paris at the
Division of Technology, Industry and Economics
(DTIE) of the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP), where he is responsible for corporate
responsibility (CESR), the Global Compact (GC)
of the UN Secretary-General and the Global
Reporting Initiative (GRI).
Over recent years
he represented UNEP and the GC at various
international conferences and in GRI expert
working groups. He is also GC nominated expert
in the ISO process to develop a standard on
social responsibility, building on his closely
involvement in promoting UNEP-business partnership
and accountability.
He has done longstanding
research in the field of International Political
Economy, focusing on the environment and
the role of business and industry. He received
his Ph.D. in International Relations at the
University of Stellenbosch in 1998. His doctoral
studies involved research at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität
Freiburg (Germany; DAAD stipendium) and the
Rijksuniversiteit Leiden (Netherlands; Stichting
Studienfonds scholarship), following which
he gained experience as multilateral diplomat
in international negotiations under the UN
agreements on climate change and ozone depletion.
Paul Hohnen
Former
Australian diplomat Paul Hohnen has three decades
of experience in global environmental and sustainability
policy formation. Now an independent consultant
based in Amsterdam,
he is a sought-after speaker and facilitator
at international conferences. His clients include
government, UN bodies, corporations and NGOs.
A founding director of the Global Reporting
Initiative (GRI), Paul remains a special advisor
to that organisation. Currently Paul is working
with the International Organization for Standardization
(ISO) Working Group on Social Responsibility,
and is an Associate Fellow of the Royal Institute
of International Affairs (Chatham House) in London.
Kathleen Farrell
Kathleen
Farrell represents the Law Council of Australia
on the ASX Corporate Governance Council. She
participated in developing the original
Principles and Recommendations and in the
working groups responsible for the current
review.
Kathleen
is currently a consultant to leading national
law firm Freehills. She is a member of the
Takeovers Panel, deputy chair of the Business
Law Section of the Law Council of Australia
and she is a director of the Australian
Institute of Management (NSW & ACT)
Limited. Kathleen has practised for
over 20 years in mergers and acquisitions
and major capital markets transactions
and she is a regular contributor to debate
about corporate law reform and corporate
governance. In 1992/93, she was National
Co-ordinator Enforcement at the Australian
Securities Commission (now ASIC). She
has been a director of Pacific Power and
Standard Chartered Grindlays Bank Limited.
Katie Lahey
Katie Lahey took up the position as
Chief Executive of the Business Council of
Australia in 2001.
The Business Council of Australia (BCA) is
an association of Chief Executives of 100 of
the top Australian companies. The Council was
established in 1983 to provide a forum for
Australia’s business leadership to contribute
directly to public policy debates in order
to build a better and more prosperous Australia.
The BCA focuses on policies of national economic
significance that are centred on the role of
business in generating wealth and employment
for Australians.
Its policy reform agenda includes taxation,
business regulation, workplace relations,infrastructure
development, trade and federal-state relations.
Before joining the BCA, Ms Lahey was the Chief
Executive of the State Chamber of Commerce
(New South Wales) from 1995-2001, Chief Executive
of the Sydney City Council from 1992-1995 and
Chairman and Chief Executive of the Victorian
Tourism Commission from 1989 to 1992.
Katie is a Director of David Jones Limited,
the Major Performing Arts Board and is a former
Director of Australia Post, Hills Motorway
Limited and the Garvan Research Foundation.
Senator Penny Wong
Penny Wong was elected as a Labor
Senator for South Australia in November 2001.
Before entering parliament, Penny was a barrister
and solicitor in Adelaide and also worked as
an adviser to the NSW Carr Government. In her
first two years in the Senate, Penny was active
both in the parliament and in the community
on critical issues for South Australia including
the River Murray and the proposed nuclear waste
repository. In addition, her Senate committee
work focused on corporate governance, superannuation
and workplace relations.
Penny was appointed Shadow Minister for Employment
and Workforce Participation, and Shadow Minister
for Corporate Governance and Responsibility,
in October 2004. As a member of the Parliamentary
Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial
Services, Penny initiated the recent inquiry
into corporate responsibility in Australia.
Kola Badejo
Kola Badejo is the Senior Adviser
on Africa in the United Nations Global Compact
Office. The UN Global Compact is the UN’s
voluntary corporate citizenship initiative
in the areas of human rights, labour standards,
the environment and anti-corruption. It is
also the world’s largest and has been
endorsed by all 191 Heads of States and Governments
of the United Nations and further legitimized
by resolutions of the UN General Assembly.
Prior to joining the UN, he worked for several
years as a Foreign Service Officer at the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, Nigeria and served at several
posts abroad, including a Senior Counsellor
position at the Permanent Mission of Nigeria
to the United Nations until his secondment
to the United Nations.
Kola’s background is in Economics and
International Affairs. He studied Administration
and Social Economics at the University de Paris
and postgraduate studies in Social Sciences
at the Institute Catholique de Paris.
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