Open for Business

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s3873461.htm Panellists: David Knox, Managing Director and CEO, Santos Ltd; Carol Schwartz, Chair of the Women’s Leadership Institute; John Symond, Founder, Aussie Home Loans; Elizabeth Proust, Chair of Nestle Australia; and Graham Bradley, Non-Executive Chair of HSBC Bank Australia. -- David Knox David Knox was appointed Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Santos in July 2008. He has 30 years of experience in the global oil and gas industry, including as Managing Director for BP Developments in Australasia from 2003 to 2007. Previously he held senior positions with BP in Australia, the United Kingdom and Pakistan, and management and engineering roles at ARCO and Shell in the United States, Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Norway. David is chairman of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA). He is a council member of the Business Council of Australia and the Royal Institute of Australia, and Chair of the CSIRO Energy Strategic Advisory Committee. He is a Director on the Board of the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium in South Australia. -- Carol Schwartz Carol Schwartz is one of Australia’s leading business identities. She has extensive experience in business, property, the arts and community organisations, and has been a director on a large number of public company and government boards. Carol is currently the Chairman of Our Community and Founding Chair of the Women’s Leadership Institute Australia. Some of Carol’s other directorships include Stockland, Bank of Melbourne, Qualitas Property Partners. She is a board member for the St James Ethics Foundation and the National Australia Day Council. She is Executive in Residence at Melbourne Business School, council member of the Australian Innovation Research Centre at the University of Tasmania, board member for the Centre for Advanced Journalism at the University of Melbourne and a member of the Enterprise Melbourne Advisory Board , the Milken Global Advisory Council and Harvard Kennedy Women’s Leadership Board. She is also the Co-Chair in Australia for Women Corporate Directors. Carol is also the immediate Past President of the Melbourne International Arts Festival where she served from 2005-2009. Carol’s other previous roles include Chair of Industry Superannuation Property Trust and National President of the Property Council of Australia. Carol was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in 2006 for her achievements in business and commerce and her contribution to community and the arts. She also received the Centenary Medal in 2001 in recognition of her outstanding service as a leading business executive and board participant. She was awarded a Monash University Fellowship in 2010, and in 2011 was inducted into the Victorian Women’s Honour Roll. Together with her husband Alan and four children, Carol established the Trawalla Foundation which invests in social enterprises and opportunities that focus on arts, ideas, innovation and scholarship. -- John Symond John Symond is one of Australia's best known businessmen, seen by many as the man who took on the banks and brought the dream of home ownership into the reach of thousands of Australians. He is founder and chair of lending giant Aussie Home Loans, the company which has made him one of the nation's richest men, with an estimated fortune of $365 million. In 1987, after surviving severe personal and financial crises, John set about realising his dream of owning a home loan company. With the help of $10,000 from a relative, he created Aussie Home Loans and opened for business in 1992. The company was unique in its approach to home loans, offering 24 hour a day service and cheaper loans than those offered by banks. John's approach forced the banks to lower interest rates and fees and made home-ownership a possibility for a generation of Australians formerly excluded from the market. The company rapidly grew as consumers became aware of Aussie Home Loans and banks were forced to copy John’s strategies as their market share diminished. In 2002, John re-invented the company as a mortgage broker selling its own products and low rate credit card. John was born in 1947 in rural NSW and spent his childhood in both Sydney and Brisbane. The son of Lebanese fruit shop owners, he was one of seven children. John attended eleven different schools during his childhood, finally matriculating from Homebush Boys High in 1965. After leaving school he studied law and specialised in property and finance. John now lives in an imposing harbourside mansion he designed and built in Sydney’s exclusive Point Piper. It is regarded as one of the most expensive private residences in Australia. He has two children. -- Elizabeth Proust Elizabeth Proust has held leadership roles in the private and public sectors in Australia for over 30 years. Currently Elizabeth is Chairman of Nestle Australia, Chairman of the Bank of Melbourne, a director of Perpetual Ltd, Insurance Manufacturers Australia, Sinclair Knight Merz, and Sports Australia Hall of Fame. She is a member of the JP Morgan Advisory Council and a Trustee of the Prince’s Charities Australia. She is also a member of the Catholic Church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council. In 2010 Elizabeth was made an Officer of the Order of Australian for distinguished service to public administration and to business, through leadership roles in government and private enterprise, as a mentor to women, and to the community through contributions to arts, charitable and educational bodies. Previously Elizabeth worked in senior roles at the ANZ Banking Group, in local, State and Federal Government, and in BP Australia and BP International. She has held senior positions in the Victorian Government, including as Secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet and Secretary of the Attorney-General’s Department. She was also CEO of the City Of Melbourne. She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has a Law degree from the University of Melbourne and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from La Trobe University. -- Graham Bradley Graham Bradley is a professional company director and is currently Non-Executive Chairman of Stockland Corporation, EnergyAustralia Holdings and HSBC Bank Australia. He also chairs junior gas explorer Po Valley Energy, Virgin Australia International Holdings and the Anglo American Advisory Board and is a director GI Dynamics. In July 2013 he was appointed Chairman of Infrastructure NSW. Graham was managing director of Perpetual Limited from 1995 to 2003. Under his leadership Perpetual grew to become one of Australia's leading listed funds management and financial services groups. Prior to joining Perpetual, Graham was national managing partner of leading law firm Blake Dawson (now Ashurst). Before this, Graham was a partner of McKinsey & Company, a leading international firm of management consultants. Graham was President of the Business Council of Australia from 2009 to 2011 and Vice President from 2011 to 2012. He was Deputy President of the Takeovers Panel from 2006 to 2013. He is a member of the Advisory Council of the Australian School of Business at UNSW and a director of the European Australian Business Council. Graham also devotes time to a range of non-profit organisations, including the State Library of NSW as a Council member since 2006. Graham was made a member of the Order of Australia in 2009 in recognition of his contribution to business, medical research and the arts. He was acknowledged by the Australian Institute of Company Directors NSW as the Distinguished Fellow for 2012 in recognition of his contribution to good corporate governance in Australia. ---- Audience: ALP 33%, Coalition 48%, Greens 11%, Other 2%, Not specified 5% POLITICS AND BUSINESS CONFIDENCE Nii Wallace-Bruce asked: In the lead up to the recent Federal Election, it was mentioned that a Coalition government would boost business confidence. Do you feel that it has occurred in reality and if not, what is required to improve this? CARBON TAX Les Gallagher asked: I would like to ask if any of the business people on the panel supports the Carbon tax. PAID PARENTAL LEAVE Peter Rajic asked: Could the panel give us their thoughts on the tax hike large businesses will pay to fund Tony Abbott's parental leave scheme for his so-called 'women of calibre'? GENDER PAY GAP Rachel Bode asked: The Federal Workplace Gender Equality Agency recently released a study showing the gender pay gap in Australia is on average 17.5% - meaning women are on average paid 82.5 cents for every dollar their male counterparts earn. Their report also exposed the financial and insurance services sector as the sector with the second worst level of pay discrimination in Australia's with a pay gap of 31.4% - nearly double the national average. As a women starting out my career in the finance sector, I am alarmed by these statistics. I would like hear from the panellists about what they think about how the finance sector or for that matter any sector justifies this gap? WORK CHOICES Stewart Lung asked: In my opinion, WorkChoices was an attempt to instil entrepreneurialism in the Australian workforce to improve productivity as this is the only effective means for jobs to stay in Australia. So should we return to an employer-friendly industrial relations system? GRAINCORP Cameron Rodwell asked: Recently, there has been significant commentary regarding an eventual move from mining to agriculture as Australia’s major growth sector. Considering the burgeoning need for agriculture to support an increasing global population, is a block of the Graincorp sale to ADM only delaying the inevitable? What alternative options are available to Graincorp for such a major capital injection? HOME OWNERSHIP Leanne Murphy asked: I’m a single parent struggling to make ends meet but looking forward to the day that I might be able to once again own my own home. Property prices and rents continue to rise forcing my dream even more out of my grasp. When I think about the tax break negative gearing and am astonished at this subsidisation of investing in property at the expense of low and middle-income families. Do you think negative gearing should be abolished or at the very least quarantined – only available for new dwellings – thus giving low income earners an opportunity to get into the property market? COAL SEAM GAS Edward Nankivell asked: Hi I am Edward Nankivell. My family and I farm on the Liverpool Plains in North west New South Wales- The richest and most fertile food bowl in Australia. Our community carried out a survey and 96% of the farmers have said no to Coal Seam Gas. Your Santos representative said that if they did not have a social license to operate on the Liverpool plains that you would not proceed. Santos clearly does not have a social license. Are you going to honour that promise and withdraw from the Liverpool plains? COAL SEAM GAS Daniel Robins asked: David Knox, with increasing community opposition to coal seam gas extraction across Australia, the Prime Minister Tony Abbott has now promised that “no one should be forced to have a gas well on their property” and “CSG should never be allowed in residential areas”. Do you agree? COAL SEAM GAS A questioner from the floor asked: The NSW government recently moved to protect families who live in zoned residential areas by introducing a 2KM exclusion zone for CSG activities. The exclusion zone for farm houses, like where I live in Moree, is 200m from the home and 50m from our garden for CSG activities - production and exploration. Do you think families living in rural areas should have the same protections and the right to have no mining near residential areas as well? SOCIAL CONSCIENCE Molly Carr has asked: How do you face the moral challenges of meeting shareholder demands and profit maximisation in the face of moral and social implications of certain business dealings in light of such instances as the British HSBC dealings with Iran, Sudan, Myanmar, Libya and most significantly, with Mexican and Colombian drug cartels? Also the Nestle formula scandal in Africa? How do you balance your social conscience with your job and your own ambitions? Have any of you ever felt you crossed that line and if so how do you deal with that? And you have all crossed the line.