"30% of Scentre Group’s directors are female."

 

Scentre Group has in place a number of governance bodies responsible for the strategic guidance of the organisation. Those bodies are the Board of Directors, the Audit and Risk Committee, the Human Resources Committee, the Nomination Committee and the Executive Committee.

Sustainability is managed and implemented by Scentre Group’s:

• Board – among other responsibilities, the Board is responsible for setting and reviewing the strategic direction and overseeing the effective management and operation of the Group.
• Audit and Risk Committee – maintains oversight of the risk management framework, including sustainability risks.
• Executive Committee – operates the business in alignment with the policies set by the Board. The Executive Committee is composed of the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, General Counsel and operations directors.

While accountability for sustainability rests with the Executive Committee of Scentre Group, the Director for Design and Construction is the Executive Sponsor for Sustainability within Scentre Group. He is responsible for overseeing the development of the Sustainable Business strategy and the implementation of the energy efficiency, waste and water initiatives and programs in Australia and New Zealand and reporting on the environmental performance of the business to the Executive Committee.

The Executive Committee delegates the implementation of key community, people and environmental strategies to committees composed of diverse representatives from the business.

In 2016 the Sustainable Business Council was dismantled. The Executive Committee is now responsible for the implementation of key Sustainable Business strategies, and operational teams provide support for the implementation of initiatives throughout the business. Scentre Group continues to build sustainability accountabilities and responsibilities in role descriptions at all levels of the organisation, which will be pursued in 2017.

The Workplace Health and Safety Council was set up to align the Design and Construction team’s Work Health and Safety (WHS) attitudes and behaviours to a generative safety culture. The council includes various members of the Design and Construction team. It quickly developed a charter, a purpose statement ('people protecting people') and developed a strategy document, including initiatives against each of the three core elements of the WHS strategy.

In 2016 Scentre Group trained senior managers to adhere to our WHS cultural journey, commitments and expectations and we have setup WHS cultural objectives for our project teams. Each project received a briefing on WHS alignment and monthly communications commenced to reinforce the focus driven by our WHS Council. For more details and results of our strategic initiatives, refer to the People section of this report.

 

"The priorities of the Work Health and Safety strategy revolve around three core elements: visible leadership, workforce engagement and WHS strategy."

 

Since 2015 the Diversity and Inclusion Council has met monthly to drive strategies and implement initiatives focussing on:

• Diversity: to attract, recruit and retain a diverse workforce
• Inclusiveness: to provide a work environment where people feel safe to bring their whole selves to work, one that embraces all the ways in which we are different
• Awareness and education: to raise awareness and increase commitment to workplace diversity and inclusion across the organisation.

In 2016 the Council launched the Scentre Group’s Reconciliation Action Plan, and the Diversity and Inclusion agenda was expanded to include strategies that support our LGBTI employees and those impacted by mental health issues. More details are provided in the People section of this report.