Modernising the Corporations Act
Governance Institute has made a submission to Treasury supporting proposed permanent reforms on virtual and hybrid AGMs, electronic execution of documents by companies, and electronic shareholder communications (such as notices of meeting). The exposure draft is one of two pieces of legislation to be considered by Parliament in August that propose to modernise the Corporations Act 2001 and make it more technology neutral — something Governance Institute has campaigned for over many years.
In its current state, the exposure draft legislation would:
- permanently allow for hybrid AGMs (simultaneous physical and virtual meetings) without the need for any constitutional amendments
- permanently allow virtual AGMs, but only if the entity’s constitution permits
- permanently allow electronic execution of company documents
- create show-of-hands as the default method for voting at both physical and hybrid meetings, and
- allow members who hold at least five per cent of voting capital to request polls be independently scrutinised.