TOOHILL We can expect the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) standards to inform local reporting requirements, and this will shift the conversation materially. When measures are adopted by investors, it is amazing how quickly things start to shift.

GRAHAM It is unclear at the moment whether Australian regulators will adopt a social ISSB standard. However, it is very clear that there is appetite to adopt the ISSB standards as they are finalised, and strong commitment to climate and, likely, nature-related disclosures. It will be interesting to see how the ISSB work on a social standard develops and how applicable it might be in the Australian context.

WAKEFIELD EVANS There has been a big shift around gender under recent governments, both federally and at state level. In New South Wales, the treasurer and minister for energy, Matt Kean, has come out of the starting blocks with a clear focus on gender.

A lot of work is being done at this level to ensure we have gender appropriate budgets, that we are fixing structural impediments in our economy such as childcare, and that we are putting proper resourcing around some of the women’s agencies such as WGEA [Workplace Gender Equality Agency].

Leadership at government level has a trickle-down effect and historically we have seen positive impacts from this at board level. However, the reality is that the previous government did very little for women – in fact, [former Australian prime minister] Tony Abbott took away the gender lens that had always been applied to the federal budget and none of the subsequent conservative governments put it back.

Anthony Albanese’s Labor government will remedy this. These might be viewed as tiny structural changes. But, in the same way that the federal and state governments are already starting to change the conversation about gender-based violence, if we change some of the policy settings, regulators are more likely to consider the issues as well.

TOOHILL Contributing to this is the discussion about paid parental leave, which we recently saw the government increase to 26 weeks. Parenting is about parents, not gender. But the more we see fathers taking time out of work to care for their children, the more likely we will see a structural shift. Even so, I think it will take time in Australia.

CHRYSTAL Many of the issues we have raised associated with the standardisation of data for gender balance, as well as reporting and disclosure guidelines, are very similar to the environmental issues we have been discussing for many years. When the environmental piece is addressed, we will be able to shift our focus to social.

Every RFP we receive has an environmental question. When I consider how quickly we shifted our awareness onto environmental issues, I am hopeful we will find ourselves climbing the same very steep curve for social aspects. Environmental sceptics are few and far between nowadays, enabling us to move toward social.

CHRYSTAL We have not received any questions on gender although we were asked about Indigenous representation for the first time about six months ago. The issue, again, is availability of data: to source what we need we would have to comb through each company’s sustainability report, and even then it is probably not all there. Also, sustainability reporting tends to include gender but not Indigenous representation.

We ask questions where the information is relevant to managing risk and materiality. If it is relevant to the industry we are looking at, it certainly makes sense for us to include it. But there are so many other things we have to focus on.

WAKEFIELD EVANS This is a reporting problem. Companies can ask their employees to indicate their cultural background but providing this information is not compulsory and many employees opt out.

TOOHILL Self-identification is very complex from an Indigenous perspective, indeed any cultural perspective. One must be very clear about what the data will be used for.

WAKEFIELD EVANS A very positive step is the creation of employee networks by many of the larger firms – including Macquarie, Lendlease and Westpac Banking Corporation. Some are starting to form Indigenous networks also.

TOOHILL The Westpac Brothers and Sisters network has existed for at least 10 years. It is a network of Indigenous and non- Indigenous employees who share a common vision for a workplace where Indigenous Australians and their culture are understood, respected and celebrated. It is important, too, that these networks are employee-led.