Sustainability Report 2006/07Our governance procedures
It is Melbourne Water’s policy to adopt appropriate corporate governance practices and regularly review them to ensure that Melbourne Water is up to date with best practice.
Current initiatives are underway to improve Board and management processes including continued development of the Board Extranet so that Board Members can have fast and convenient access to all Board documents and Melbourne Water information. The Extranet also makes electronic Board and Committee papers available to Leadership Team members for continuing external assessment of Board processes.
Melbourne Water’s internal auditor, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, completed the second year of its three-year assignment to assist the Board in assessing its performance. A number of areas for possible improvements were identified by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu including:
- Strategy direction setting and Board oversight
- Board membership, culture and skills
- Board process
- Stakeholder engagement
- Structure and committees
- Working relationship between Board and Leadership Team.
Current processes to improve governance arrangements include:
- Reviewing Melbourne Water’s processes to ensure it is compliant with the changes made to the Water Act by the Water (Governance) Act when they become effective on 1 July 2007
- Giving particular attention to the new provisions dealing with Directors’ duties to disclose potential and actual conflicts of interest and changes in Board policies to accommodate these requirements
- Reviewing internal delegations from the Board to management
- Continuing work to improve Melbourne Water’s legislative compliance systems.