16 questions asked at 2021 Lendlease AGM
December 17, 2021
Text of 16 questions asked at 2021 Lendlease AGM.
1. Did any of the 5 main proxy advisers in the Australian market - ACSI, ASA, Ownership Matters, Glass Lewis and ISS - recommend a vote against any of today's resolutions, including the remuneration report? Has their been a material proxy protest vote against any of today's resolutions? Will you disclose the proxy votes before the debate on today's resolutions so shareholders can ask questions if there have been any protest votes?
2. We paid $960 million for Valemus in 2010, picking up the old Abigroup and Baulderstone Hornibrook civil construction and engineering businesses. Given the huge losses we've suffered on civil engineering, can you think of a worse acquisition than this Valemus deal in the long and storied history of Lendlease?
3. Could Michael Ullmer comment on whether he intends to serve a full 3 year term and confirm that this will be his final term on the board given that he has served since 2011 and will be 73 when this term expires in 2024. Does he believe that the next Lendlease chair is currently on the board?
4. It was great to be reminded by the chair about Dick Dusseldorf's view that companies should focus on “doing the right thing” and also “justify their worth to society”. In light of this, how does Mr Ullmer justify Woolworths extracting more than $12 billion from poker machine gamblers during his decade long stint on the Woolworths board when Woolworths was Australia's biggest and most aggressive poker machine operator, deluging harm on thousands of vulnerable and addicted citizens by running a 24 hours a day gambling operation across Melbourne, in particular. What did he personally do to make Woolworths a less irresponsible gambling giant?
5. When CEOs move from one public company to another, they often poach a lot of their favourite staff to join them. Could Tony Lombardo comment on how many Lendlease staff have resigned to join Crown Resorts since Steve McCrann was announced as the new Crown CEO on May 10. Also, is the new CEO catching up regularly with Steve McCann as he settles into the role?
6. Was it really the right time to depart the engineering sector when the NSW and Victorian Governments have both announced they are moving to a cost-plus model for major projects after the various disastrous blowouts at projects like Melbourne's Metrol Tunnel rail project and Transurban's Westgate Tunnel project. Cost-plus is money for jam for contractors with the government taking on all the risk with blowouts. Also, please comment on how exposed we are to future cost blowouts at the Metro Rail tunnel project, even after this year's $1.37 billion Victorian government bailout.
7. The Melbourne CBD has been hit harder by COVID than any central business district in Australia, so bringing Melbourne back is vital for the Victorian economy. With all our approvals in place, could the CEO comment on when construction is likely to start on the North Wharf project at Docklands. Also, please provide an update on whether Melbourne Quarter is still feasible and whether our contract with the Victorian Government requires us to get cracking on construction according to strict timelines, irrespective of market conditions.
8. Thank you for reading out all of my questions without any editing. When disclosing the outcome of all resolutions, will you publicly disclose how many shareholders voted for and against each item, similar to what happens with a scheme of arrangement? This will provide a better gauge of retail shareholder sentiment on all resolutions and was a disclosure initiative recently adopted by Metcash and Southern Cross Media after their AGMs.
9. Why haven't we made the mandatory ASX JobKeeper announcement and how did we play JobKeeper? Did we claim any and do we refund any, including within our managed funds operation. What is the chair's view on whether JobKeeper was a widely rorted scheme where you didn't actually need to suffer the required revenue drops to claim it.
10. Please comment on vaccination rates and policies at Lendlease. How many of our staff or contractors refused to get vaccinated and therefore left the company. Has there been anything unique or different about the way Lendlease has approached workforce vaccination, or noteworthy differences in government policies that we faced around the world.
11. Given the interesting discussions across a range of topics today, including this remuneration report, could the chair undertake to make an archived copy of the webcast plus a full transcript of proceedings available on the company's website. Nine Entertainment chairman Peter Costello, who appreciates the benefit of a parliamentary hansard transcript where MPs don't have to scroll through old videos to find out what was said, made this change yesterday and had a full transcript of yesterday's Nine AGM online before the end of the day.
12. When disclosing the outcome of all resolutions, including this remuneration report item, will you publicly disclose how many shareholders voted for and against each item, similar to what happens with a scheme of arrangement? This will provide a better gauge of retail shareholder sentiment on all resolutions and was a disclosure initiative recently adopted by Metcash and Southern Cross Media after their AGMs.
13. Could Elizabeth Proust please comment about her views on tenure limits for directors, particularly given that chairs who enjoy the power, pay and prestige of leading a major organisation arguably have a potential conflict of interest to not bring new talent onto the board who might succeed them. Does Elizabeth believe there are multiple potential Lend Lease chairs currently serving on the board and if not, will she undertake to help to recruit potential chairs in the near future.
14. I am a strong supporter of Elizabeth Proust whose first board gig was on her local kindergarten committee before she rose up to be an excellent CEO of City of Melbourne, an excellent head of Victoria's Premier's department during the Kennett years and then a professional director with no major blemishes. Could she comment on whether she has an appetite to be a future chair of an ASX50 company.
15. Could acting chair Nicola Wakefield-Evans please advise if there has been a material protest vote of more than 5% against Michael Ullmer's re-election. It is ASA policy that the proxies should be disclosed before the debate on a resolution so that shareholders can ask for any responses or explanations about material protest votes. Why hold back disclosure of the proxies?
16. A question from Stephen Mayne, why are you naming the ASA when they ask a question and leaving the rest of us as "nameless and anonymous" inquisitors. It wasn't a relative of Elizabeth Proust who lobbed that earlier fan boy question, it was Stephen Mayne. Again, please advise the proxy position on rem now and do you also commit to release the spill proxies even if there is no spill vote?
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