Indigenous Land Corporation gpo box 652 Adelaide sa 5001

Responsible Minister

The responsible Minister for 2013–14 is Senator the Hon. Nigel Scullion, Minister for Indigenous Affairs. For the period 1 July 2013 to 18 September 2013, the former Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, the Hon. Jenny Macklin MP was the responsible Minister.

The ILC was required by the Commonwealth Authorities an Companies 1997 (CAC Act) to inform the Minister of any events of significance, such as the establishment of a new company.

The ILC is also required to keep the Minister informed of its operations and provide the Minister and the Minister for Finance and Deregulation with reports, documents and information in relation to the operations of the ILC as requested from time to time.

The ILC Board

The seven-member Board is the ILC’s primary decision making body which is responsible for the proper and efficient performance of the functions of the ILC and determines the policy of the ILC. The Responsible Minister appoints ILC Board Directors.

In 2013–14, there was a change in Board membership following the replacement of long-serving Directors David Baffsky and Sam Jeffries who had made valuable contributions for 14 and nine years respectively. New Directors joining the Board are Ms Lisa Gay from Melbourne and Ms Alison Page from Coffs Harbour. Continuing Directors were Dr Dawn Casey (Chair), Mr Ian Trust (Deputy Chair), Ms Olga Havnen, Mr Graham Atkinson and Mr Neil Westbury. All Directors are non-executive Board members.

The Board is governed by a Code of Conduct which sets out Board members’ legal, financial, and conflict-of-interest responsibilities and enables them to discharge their obligations to the highest standards in accordance with the CAC Act.

The Board appoints the CEO. The CEO is responsible for the day-to-day administration of the ILC and may delegate powers and functions to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and employees.

The Governance Structure at Figure 7 illustrates how the Board governs the performance of the ILC and its subsidiaries.

Key objectives of the Board include:

• Achieving the ILC’s purpose as specified in the Act;

• Providing accountable, effective, measurable, strategic leadership.

• Exercising control over the ILC and subsidiary operations, including the consideration and adoption of appropriate risk management strategies; and

• Reviewing of Board Governance arrangements.

There were 19 Board meetings in 2013–14 at which land acquisition and land management proposals were considered and approved, strategic direction and policy were set, and performance and accountability were monitored. During 2013–14, an education and performance review process of Directors was developed and will be implemented in 2014–15. See Appendix 2, pages 202–3, which lists Directors’ attendance at Board meetings.