Company Directors

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McGrath Limited today announced the appointment of an additional non-executive director, Shane Smollen.

Mr Smollen’s appointment follows McGrath posting a significant turnaround with Underlying EBITDA of $3.7 million for the year to 30 June 2020, compared with a loss of $6.4 million in the previous year.

A leading property professional since 1983, Mr Smollen owned one of the country’s leading real estate networks before selling it to McGrath in 2015. Mr. Smollen, who currently holds 7.94% of McGrath’s issued capital, has been advising McGrath’s sales management team over recent months with a focus on productivity and revenue growth.

Chair of McGrath, Mr. Peter Lewis, said “Shane brings to the board an excellent real estate track record with expertise in all aspects of the sector, combined with integrity and insights that will accelerate our profit turnaround and restore shareholder value."

Mr Smollen said “I am delighted to join the board of McGrath, a company that I know well. I believe the group is well placed to take advantage of an expected consolidation of the real estate agency sector.

McGrath has performed significantly better than the market during the year, notwithstanding the ongoing impacts of COVID.

<h2>Recently listed properties:</h2>

[smartcode_project:default project_id=24323]

[smartcode_project:default project_id=22699]

[smartcode_project:default project_id=26730]
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McGrath appoints Shane Smollen as non-executive director

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The REIQ membership have voted to change the constitution, mandating two member director positions for women and one for an under-35.
To change the constitution a special resolution requires support from 75 per cent of the membership.
These changes mark a shift for the 100-year-old organisation, signifying a drive to ensure greater diversity in the boardroom and bringing it into line with modern corporate Australia.
“Women make up 50.6 per cent of the population in Queensland and yet they are under-represented at a boardroom level throughout the state,” REIQ Chairman Peter Brewer said.
“Governments and corporations are introducing these targets to ensure that a range of ideas from diverse backgrounds are heard at all levels and the REIQ is among them,” Brewer added. 
In its 100 year history, the REIQ membership has elected only seven women to the Board and only one under-35-year-old Member Director.
This constitutional change reflects the new three-year strategic plan that focuses on being more inclusive and developing a deeper understanding of our membership.
“Like all membership organisations, we are struggling to connect with younger people and we want to make sure that our decisions are made with the entire membership in mind, reflecting the diverse range of voices and experiences in the membership,” he said.
The REIQ CEO is Antonia Mercorella, the first woman to be appointed to the role in its 100-year history.
The REIQ Board already mandates two positions reserved for regional Queensland Member Directors.
The changes to the constitution will roll out over the next two years and be in full effect by 2020.
The REIQ is the peak body for real estate practitioners throughout Queensland, representing more than 15,000 real estate agents, property managers, buyers agents, business brokers, auctioneers and commercial &amp; industrial agents.
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REIQ change the constitution mandating female and under 35 directors

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The PIPA board of directors has elected Peter Koulizos as the association's new chairman, effective 1 December 2017.
Koulizos replaces outgoing chairman Ben Kingsley, who stepped down after five successful years at the helm of PIPA. Kingsley remains on the PIPA board of directors.
Koulizos was first elected to the PIPA board in 2015 and is a South Australian property academic at both TafeSA and the University of South Australia.
Affectionately known as the "Property Professor", Mr Koulizos brings more than 20 years of real estate and investment teaching to the chair position as well as personal experience as a successful investor and property developer.
"I am honoured to be elected as the PIPA chairman, especially as the association is going from strength to strength thanks to the stewardship of outgoing chairman Ben Kingsley over the past five years," Koulizos said.
"While PIPA's membership and brand is growing solidly, our fight for regulation in the property investment advice space continues with far too many investors still losing significant sums of money due to unscrupulous spruikers masquerading as advisers."
Koulizos' aims for 2018 includes a greater focus on the education of PIPA members to ensure they continue to uphold the very high expectations of all of their clients and to set the benchmark for property investment advice best practice.
Melbourne-based PIPA board director David MacMillan has been elected as the association's deputy chairman.
The PIPA board also elected Sydney-based Paul Glossop to the board of directors. Mr Glossop is a licensed buyers' agent and also has formal qualifications in education and architecture.
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PIPA elects Peter Koulizos as board chairman to battle for property punters interests

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ASIC has disqualified Nathan Tinkler, Donna Dennis and Troy Palmer from managing companies for between three and four years for multiple serious failures in their duty as directors.
Tinkler's three-years and nine-months disqualification follows the appointment of liquidators to 11 companies he managed:
<ul>
<li>Ocean Street Holdings Pty Ltd</li>
<li>Tinkler Group Pty Ltd</li>
<li>Tinkler Group Holdings Administration</li>
<li>Monegeetta Holdings Pty Ltd</li>
<li>Patinack Farm Holdings No 4 Pty Ltd</li>
<li>Patinack Farm Holdings No 8 Pty Ltd</li>
<li>Thoroughbred Administration Pty Ltd</li>
<li>Aston Metals Limited</li>
<li>Patinack Farm Administration Pty Ltd</li>
<li>Mulsanne Resources Pty Ltd</li>
<li>Supercar International Holdings Ltd</li>
</ul>
Dennis' three-year disqualification follows the appointment of liquidators to nine companies she managed:
<ul>
<li>Ocean Street Holdings Pty Ltd</li>
<li>Thoroughbred Administration Pty Ltd</li>
<li>Hunter Sports Special Events Pty Ltd</li>
<li>Tinkler Group Pty Ltd</li>
<li>Tinkler Group Holdings Administration Pty Ltd</li>
<li>Monegeetta Holdings Pty Ltd</li>
<li>Patinack Farm Holdings No 4 Pty Ltd</li>
<li>Patinack Farm Holdings No 8 Pty Ltd</li>
<li>Newcastle Jets Football Operations Pty Ltd</li>
</ul>
Palmer's three-years and nine-months disqualification follows the appointment of liquidators to nine companies he managed:
<ul>
<li>Thoroughbred Administration Pty Ltd</li>
<li>Newcastle Jets Football Operations Pty Ltd</li>
<li>Ocean Street Holdings Pty Ltd</li>
<li>Aston Metals Limited</li>
<li>Patinack Farm Administration Pty Ltd</li>
<li>Mulsanne Resources Pty Ltd</li>
<li>Supercar International Holdings Ltd</li>
<li>The Supercar Club Pty Ltd</li>
<li>TSCCF Pty Ltd</li>
</ul>
As a result of information contained in reports provided by the liquidators of the failed companies, ASIC was concerned Tinkler, Dennis and Palmer had:
<ul>
<li>failed to prevent the companies from trading while insolvent;</li>
<li>failed to ensure the companies paid their taxes;</li>
<li>failed to discharge their duties as a director; and</li>
<li>allowed one of the companies to deliberately operate at a loss.</li>
</ul>
Tinkler and Palmer were each disqualified from managing companies for three years and nine months, effective from 18 May 2017 and 12 May respsectively. Ms Dennis has been disqualified from managing corporations for three years, effective from 22 May 2017.
ASIC Commissioner John Price said the disqualifications imposed on these directors should highlight the consequences that can follow when companies are poorly managed.
"ASIC will seek to hold company directors accountable if they systemically fail to discharge their obligations when managing companies."
Section 206F of the Corporations Act allows ASIC to disqualify a person from managing corporations for up to five years if, within a seven-year period, the person was an officer of two or more companies, and those companies were wound up and a liquidator provides a report to ASIC about the company’s inability to pay its debts.
ASIC also maintains a public register of banned and disqualified persons that provides information about people who have been:
<ul>
<li>disqualified from involvement in the management of a corporation;</li>
<li>disqualified from auditing self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs); or</li>
<li>disqualified from practising in the financial services of credit industry.</li>
</ul>
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Nathan Tinkler, Donna Dennis and Troy Palmer banned by ASIC from managing companies

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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/68068/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">
GUEST OBSERVER
Company directors who don’t properly consider climate related risks could be liable for breaching their duty of due care and diligence, a new legal opinion has found. 
Although the alarm for business leaders has been sounding for some time, the release of the opinion by senior barristers and leading solicitors confirms the potential liability for Australian company directors.
Australian companies are particularly exposed to the physical, transition and liability risks posed by climate change. The Paris Climate Agreement, which comes into force today, brings the transition risks (and opportunities) forward, given the policy and business changes necessitated by the agreement’s commitment to a sustainable economy.
Directors’ liability hinges on the foreseeability of risks or opportunities material to the best interests of the company. Courts have long experience of finding fault for inadequate responses to foreseeable risks, even where there is supposed uncertainty. Examples of this are when health risks associated with HIV and asbestos were improperly understood or managed. A defendant can be liable even though they are ignorant, if a reasonable person would have known about them. 
Some corporate leaders might want to hit the snooze button again, but today’s challenges to business as usual are acute. The long foreseen economic and environmental impacts of a changing climate are intensifying. Legally, any excuse that prior uncertainty about the science or impacts of climate change may have previously afforded directors has expired. 
Corporate leadership ignoring interdependent economic, social and environmental risks and drivers of value has never been a sustainable long term strategy. Here are four reasons why there is only upside for business leaders to change course:
1. Markets are supporting the transition
Investors are demanding better information about companies’ carbon emissions and risk management strategies so they can properly understand the near and long term prospects of the companies they are investing in. Increasingly, they are getting it. Large institutional investors like BlackRock have led the charge on board-level management of climate and other sustainability risks.
Underpinned by better information, new opportunities are being supported by financial instruments such as green bonds or government backed financing for clean technology or renewable energy projects. Such instruments help capital flow towards investments that are consistent with decarbonisation of the economy in the longer term. 
These initiatives are being reinforced by economy-wide measures like carbon pricing schemes to ensure that market prices reflect true costs of emissions-intensive activities. The latest example is Canada’s decision to impose a benchmark price on carbon pollution. 
Under this plan, Canadian provinces can decide how the revenue raised is spent, but are required to have an effective price of C$10 per tonne of carbon pollution in 2018, rising by C$10 each year to C$50 per tonne in 2022. 
2. Risk disclosure will improve and converge
Michael Bloomberg’s Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosureswill update its (voluntary, business-led) framework for climate risk disclosure in December 2016. This is the next step in accelerated global efforts to increase transparency of physical, liability and transition risks. 
In Australia, enhanced ASX guidelines, which commenced in July 2014, require listed entities to disclose any exposure to economic, environmental and social sustainability risks, and how such risks will be managed. 
Calls to renew the lapsed Senate Economics Committee inquiry into carbon risk disclosure have been answered; the committee will report in early 2017.
However, significant issues remain around consistency and comparability of disclosures. The level of variation of disclosure of carbon-related and other sustainability risks by entities in the same sector, including Australia’s banks, is concerning. 
3. Regulators are focusing more on climate risk
Global regulators are stepping up supervision of firms exposed to disruptive climate related changes in asset prices, technology, and policy. Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, said that regulators and investors expect much more than “static” disclosure of risks.
Australian regulators are sending similar signals that more sophisticated stress testing and scenario-based analysis of climate related risks will be par for the course.
4. Better political dynamics
With the Paris targets locked in, more ambitious national policy settings needed to deliver them will not be far away. Years of policy reversals and missteps domestically and globally have been replaced by the policy certainty business craves. 
Pressure from Australian businesses for the government to take ambitious commitments to Paris in 2015, including through the Australian Climate Roundtable, is a sign the game has shifted, albeit after years of diversion and delay for which business leaders share some responsibility. 
This trend was reinforced when NSW became the latest state governmentto commit to a net zero emissions target by 2050. Policy changes inevitably create transition risks. But by supporting the implementation of effective, proactive policy, business can reduce the risks of sharper and unpredictable responses later.
Corporate governance will be tested against this backdrop. The implications are clear: at a minimum, where they are not already, climate and other sustainability issues must be elevated to the board level. Boards must establish the information channels, governance processes and technical capabilities. They must also be able to cultivate shareholder support for effective long-term strategies, rather than short-term sugar hits.
The coming into force of the Paris Climate Agreement promises to be a historic global tipping point in accelerating the transition to a net zero carbon economy. The release of this legal research on directors’ duties is a timely and powerful reminder of the risks, opportunities – and responsibilities – which Australian company directors face in addressing this challenge.
Travers McLeod is honorary fellow in the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne and can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/travers-mcleod-44584" target="_blank">here</a>.
John Wiseman is professorial fellow, University of Melbourne and can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/john-wiseman-252" target="_blank">here</a>.
Both are authors for The Conversation.
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