Our latest insights

On 3 November 2021, the High Court of Australia handed down a landmark decision, ruling that the “backpacker tax” imposed on a UK national who was deemed to be an Australian tax resident was in breach of the non-discrimination clauses in the Australia-UK Double Tax Agreement.

While COVID-19 presented a challenge to companies that few could have anticipated, it also acted as a catalyst. Companies were forced to review legacy structures to allow for more agile decision making, and to test their purpose and role in wider society. This report provides salient insights for Boards in Australia, as despite having a different Code in place that we report against, the key themes resonate with what we’re seeing here – purpose, culture, emerging risk management, stakeholder engagement, board effectiveness, remuneration, ESG, diversity and succession planning. It is also a strong indicator of what companies should be focusing on in the coming year.

Demographic forecasts indicate that the demand for aged care services will continue to outstrip supply for the foreseeable future

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) recently published its plans to significantly scale up its efforts to raise the standards of governance, culture, remuneration and accountability (GCRA) across financial institutions.

Corporate governance has been a hot topic of discussion in Australia for many years – spearheaded by Royal Commissions, drilled home by corporate law changes to charge company directors with more responsibilities, and demanded by consumers and shareholders holding companies to a higher standard of behaviour and transparency.

Last month, the Government released its implementation roadmap accepting all 76 of the Royal Commission’s recommendations plus committing to an additional 18 actions.

In December 2018 APRA released a suite of prudential reforms to support its long standing priority of improving member outcomes.

The Leading Age Services Australia (LASA) Congress in Adelaide last week could not have better timed following the announcement in October of the Royal Commission into aged care quality and safety.

For a change, the focus of the recent Royal Commission hearings has been on superannuation and how funds' structures and governance arrangements may lead to poor retirement outcomes for members.

A recent roundtable we held with some of our clients to discuss the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry highlighted key themes and concerns emerging as a result of the hearings.

‘Culture eats strategy’ has become accepted business wisdom. But is it possible for dynamic companies to maintain their unique culture and appeal as they expand and avoid the growing pains that affect so many firms?