Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party, Deputy Chairman , Coalition Policy Development Committee) Share this | Hansard source

I rise on behalf of the shadow Treasurer, the member for North Sydney, to speak on behalf of the coalition on this Corporations Amendment (Proxy Voting) Bill 2012. I will do so very briefly. The coalition is supportive of this bill. The bill ensures that the chair at an annual general meeting can vote undirected proxies in a non-binding shareholder vote on remuneration where the shareholder granting the proxy has provided express authorisation. The bill is in response to concerns from many stakeholders and the coalition that the changes to executive remuneration laws just last year unintentionally eliminated the ability of the chair at an AGM to vote undirected proxies. We support the rectification of this problem created by the government when it put through that legislation and we are glad that the government has acted on the advice of stakeholders and the coalition. We support the bill.

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