Media Release
07/08/07

Reporting Principles agreed by Trustees

Trustees of the West Coast Development Trust voted to adopt principles for the reporting of Trust activity to stakeholders and the public at its August meeting on Monday.

Chairman Frank Dooley said recent comments through the media alleging secrecy and lack of transparency prompted the Trust to clarify its reporting obligations under the Deed and agree on principles for reporting by the Trust to its stakeholders. The agreed principles will be used as the basis for a more comprehensive Code of Conduct for Trustees.

The Trust noted some confusion surrounding reporting principles may have been caused by a lack of understanding as to Trustees obligations. Some duties of trustees are implicit rather than explicit in the Trust Deed.

“We aim to strengthen our relationships with stakeholders and contribute to building better relationships in the future and we must take responsibility for ensuring the reporting process remains robust,” said Mr Dooley.

Most Trustees present welcomed the adoption of the principles because they clarified their legal obligations.

“While the Trust has charitable objectives, it is to operate in a commercial manner to achieve the objects of the Deed,” Mr Dooley said. “Simply put we must maintain client confidentiality and ensure we can be trusted as an ethical organisation to do business with."

The Trust’s objective in adopting these measures is to ensure it reports factual information to its stakeholders in a timely and appropriate manner.

In summary, the adopted principles are:

• The Trust is a commercial entity within a charitable structure. Trustees must operate as a commercial board and not a political Council.

• The Trust is not a political body and its decision-making processes must be modelled on sound business governance.

• Each Trustee is bound by an obligation of confidentiality. Any failure by a Trustee to maintain confidentiality would be a serious breach of duty. Repeated or persistent breaches could be a basis for an application to remove a Trustee.

• Reporting on the activities of the Trust to the West Coast, including to Councils, is for the Trust to communicate and not for individual Trustees. Reporting is only to be done in such ways as the Trust determines.

• Although some Trustees are appointed and others are elected, this does not make any Trustee a representative of the entity or district which appointed or elected him or her. The duty of all Trustees is to the Trust. Unless expressly authorized by the Trust, individual Trustees have no duty to communicate, and no right to communicate, trust business to that entity or district.

ENDS

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