[Peetwo]

Hansard OUT - CASA QON??

Ref: https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/sea...nt=Default

Board membership QON? 

Senator McKENZIE: Welcome. Are you able to confirm the number of board members that you are supposed to have?

Ms Spence : We've actually got a full complement. It is the chair. I think we've got five board members and myself.

Senator McKENZIE: And the director of aviation safety?

Ms Spence : That's me, the director of aviation safety.

Senator McKENZIE: So you are one and the same?

Ms Spence : Yes, I am.

Senator McKENZIE: There are currently no vacancies on the CASA board?

Ms Spence : That's correct. We just recently had a board member appointed a week or so ago.

Senator McKENZIE: What is the process for selecting those board members?

Ms Spence : We actually went through a selection process within the organisation or through the board, having gone through a skills matrix, and identified the areas where we considered there were gaps. We used a recruitment search agency to identify potential candidates. There was an interview process involving the chair. On the basis of that, we wrote to the minister recommending someone who actually would meet those skills.

Senator McKENZIE: When did you write to the minister?

Ms Spence : I would have to take that on notice. It was maybe November last—

Senator McKENZIE: I'm pretty sure there's a register there.

Ms Spence : I don't actually have it in front of me.

Senator McKENZIE: You are a very organised person.

Ms Spence : I can tell you it was October or November. But I'm happy to take that on notice.

Senator McKENZIE: With a recommendation. When did the minister inform you of her decision?

Ms Spence : In the last two weeks.

Senator McKENZIE: Was there any explanation for the delay?

Ms Spence : Just working through the normal processes. I think there's always a gap between meetings. It's a significant appointment, so it goes through a cabinet process. There's the gap in meetings between the end of December and the start of the new year. And the vacancy only came into effect on 31 December.

Senator McKENZIE: What is the quorum for your board meetings?

Ms Spence : A simple majority.

Senator McKENZIE: So that's four?

Ms Spence : Seven, so four.

Senator McKENZIE : Has there been any meeting of the board when there was no quorum able to be achieved?

Ms Spence : No. Certainly not since I have been there.

Senator McKENZIE: Or where quorums have been lost on an issue due to members absenting themselves due to a conflict of interest?

Ms Spence : No.

Senator McKENZIE: What about on the board committees, the probity committees, as a result of Ms Hardman's term expiring?

Ms Spence : Ms Hardman wasn't actually a member of the two subcommittees of the boards that we've got—our board audit and risk committee and our people and culture subcommittee. There was no issues around quorums. Ms Hardman wasn't a member of either.

Senator McKENZIE: So there are no vacancies on the board committees?

Ms Spence : That's correct. Sorry, we we've got an ability to appoint an extra person to our people and culture subcommittee, but that would be an independent member, so not one of the board members. But it has a quorum to operate in the absence of that position.

Se nator McKENZIE: Have you got an independent member?

Ms Spence : Yes, we do.

Senator McKENZIE: Who is that?

Ms Spence : That is Linda Spurr.

Senator McKENZIE: In terms of managing the appointments process, it's CASA per se and then you put a recommendation up to the minister?

Ms Spence : In this case, we wrote to the minister. My understanding is the minister would have sought advice from the department. The department would have provided advice around our proposal.

Senator McKENZIE: And then off it goes into government. Why wasn't the expiring director's term extended? Did they retire?

Ms Spence : I think there was a desire, as with all boards, to try to get a mix between continuity and new people on the board. Ms Hardman brought very strong skills. We have another board member who has a similar background in governance. It's really trying to address that skills mix that we require on the board.

Senator McKENZIE: Could the expiring director's term have been extended?

Ms Spence : That would have been a matter for government. It is an alternative option that could have been considered.

Senator McKENZIE: Did the director seek to retire or hand in her resignation prior to the term expiring?

Ms Spence : No. It had just been a longstanding conversation that we had been having at the board that when Ms Hardman's term expired we would be looking for someone with a different skill set to make sure that we had the right balance on the board.

 
OK so on the question of Ms Hardman's retirement from the Board, I note the only acknowledgement that this occurred was in a brief Statement by the Chair in the 7 December 2022 Board Meeting summary minutes:

I would like to thank departing Board member Ms Donna Hardman, whose three-year Board term has been completed. Donna also held the role of Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee for one year and I thank her for her dedicated service to CASA. I hope to announce a new Board appointment shortly.

 
However the dismissive and disinterested statement by Su_Spence...

"We just recently had a board member appointed a week or so ago..."

...is seemingly not backed up either on the CASA Board webpage; or on the miniscule's Media Release webpage - err WTF??

I also find it bizarre that Su_Spence did not know how many members the board currently has, nor did she have the Board records etc. easily to hand:

..Senator McKENZIE: When did you write to the minister?

Ms Spence : I would have to take that on notice. It was maybe November last—

Senator McKENZIE: I'm pretty sure there's a register there.

Ms Spence : I don't actually have it in front of me.

Senator McKENZIE: You are a very organised person.

Ms Spence : I can tell you it was October or November. But I'm happy to take that on notice...

Hmm...much more QON to follow?? 

MTF...P2