3 years ago
WAGES DOWN, EXECUTIVE SALARIES UP IN TREASURER’S GAG PLAN
STEPHEN JONES MP
Josh Frydenberg has no plan to increase the wages of ordinary workers, but he does have one to boost CEO salaries.
Revelations in the Australian Financial Review have belled the cat on the Treasurer’s campaign to nobble shareholder rights and gag whistle-blowers.
His plan will stymie proxy advisors from scrutinising executive salaries and shareholders’ access to information about remuneration and sustainable investments.
His extraordinary changes would force proxy advisors to supply the board with client advice five days before shareholders (the ones who actually pay for the advice) get it.
It’s like forcing a lawyer to provide a brief to the other side of a dispute before they provide advice to their client.
Josh Frydenberg has become the lead organiser for the Directors’ Club. It’s investors who will suffer if his campaign succeeds.
The fact is investment advisors, also known as proxy advisors, perform a vital check and balance on board power, a role they perform responsibly and honestly.
The Treasurer knows this because his own regulator has called out his false claim that proxy advisors are having a negative impact.
ASIC wrote to the Treasurer to tell him reports of proxy advisor misconduct are “very rare” and there was “no specific evidence” to back up his “anecdotal concerns” about proxy advisors.
Even if Josh Frydenberg won’t listen to ASIC and common sense, the Senate should listen.
It should stand with shareholders and reject these crazy changes.
Josh Frydenberg should abandon his protection racket for CEO salaries and focus on fixing the wage crisis facing Australian families.
Revelations in the Australian Financial Review have belled the cat on the Treasurer’s campaign to nobble shareholder rights and gag whistle-blowers.
His plan will stymie proxy advisors from scrutinising executive salaries and shareholders’ access to information about remuneration and sustainable investments.
His extraordinary changes would force proxy advisors to supply the board with client advice five days before shareholders (the ones who actually pay for the advice) get it.
It’s like forcing a lawyer to provide a brief to the other side of a dispute before they provide advice to their client.
Josh Frydenberg has become the lead organiser for the Directors’ Club. It’s investors who will suffer if his campaign succeeds.
The fact is investment advisors, also known as proxy advisors, perform a vital check and balance on board power, a role they perform responsibly and honestly.
The Treasurer knows this because his own regulator has called out his false claim that proxy advisors are having a negative impact.
ASIC wrote to the Treasurer to tell him reports of proxy advisor misconduct are “very rare” and there was “no specific evidence” to back up his “anecdotal concerns” about proxy advisors.
Even if Josh Frydenberg won’t listen to ASIC and common sense, the Senate should listen.
It should stand with shareholders and reject these crazy changes.
Josh Frydenberg should abandon his protection racket for CEO salaries and focus on fixing the wage crisis facing Australian families.