John HC Colvin, CEO and MD, Australian Institute of Company Directors
How does innovation manifest itself in the AICD? Trying to get
the right policy framework in place. In our dealings with
government we have found that there is too much lead in the saddle,
a disincentive to innovate.
There are 500 laws throughout the different states that make
company directors personally liable. For example, with current
OH&S legislation, directors are liable and normal rules of law
do not apply. It's the workers, not the directors, that are
protected and trade unions are allowed to keep the proceeds from a
successful prosecution.
What we want is for directors to be as innovative as possible
without red tape slowing them down. We want to work with the
government to set the right environment and policy to encourage a
fair market system which is the best for creating wealth for
business and the country.
In the current climate it would be easy for the government to
create regulations to show they're doing something. But the better
way would be to rationalise and simplify legislation and let
business get on with what they do best.
With regard to liability, we are determined to create safe
harbours where directors feel that if they go through a challenging
business experience they won't be prosecuted if they are acting in
good faith.
We are working hard on segmenting our membership base and
catering for their specific needs with our education offerings,
whether it be a go to market model or an examination of succession
planning for SMEs.
We have membership of 25,000 members, but with 1.9 million
registered directors in Australia there is room for considerable
growth. We believe the strength of our training and education
offerings will drive a solid growth of our membership base.
