Boardroom Brief: Week commencing 30 October 2023

This is a service specifically targeted at the needs of busy non-executive directors (NEDs). We aim to give you a ‘heads up’ on the things that matter for NEDs in the week ahead - all in two minutes or less. In this edition, we discuss the Australian Accounting Standards Board’s (AASB) release of the draft climate disclosure standards for public consultation, as well as the Australian Institute of Company Directors’ (AICD) publication of a ‘director’s guide’ to preventing workplace sexual harassment. We also examine two recent applications to the Takeovers Panel in relation to the affairs of Southern Cross and Whitehaven Coal and a Supreme Court of Western Australia case in respect of share register request requirements. We also observe that the Supreme Court of Western Australia has followed the approach taken by other national superior courts with respect to the conduct, procedure and evidence requirements applicable to members’ schemes of arrangement. In Over the Horizon, we discuss Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s doubling of financing for critical minerals projects under the Australian Critical Minerals Facility during the first Australia-United States Taskforce on Critical Minerals meeting.