[Greens-Media] Lessons of Rhodium

[Manderson, Roland]

---------------------------
ACT GREENS MLA DEB FOSKEY MEDIA RELEASE
---------------------------

21 Aug 08



Lessons of Rhodium

ACT Greens MLA Deb Foskey has argued that the Legislative Assembly's
Public Accounts Committee's unanimous report into the ACT Auditor
General's inquiry into Rhodium Asset Solutions Ltd , released today,
shows that the ACT Government needs to bite the bullet on shareholder
responsibility.

 "This Committee, which has a representative of each party in the
Assembly, presented a unanimous report that sheeted blame home to all
the players: staff, board and shareholders" Dr Foskey said today

"To quote from the conclusion of the report -  "Management led by the
former CEO, engaged in ill advised spending, treated company assets and
business as personal benefits and failed to establish policies and
practices of even a basic acceptable standard. The Board failed in its
duty to supervise management and did not place in priority on addressing
key e areas where they were aware of weaknesses. The shareholders, while
not directly responsible for the day to day failures and questionable
behaviour at Rhodium, failed to establish and communicate its
expectations to the company."

Dr Foskey went on to say:

 "The take home message from the Assembly committee, which can only make
recommendations to Government about government related responsibilities,
is that shareholder responsibility for Territory Owned Corporations
(TOCs) needs to be looked at more closely."

 "Those shareholders, being the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief
Minister, appointed the Board which still exists, and the Board
appointed the CEO." 

"This report has implications for the other TOCs - ACTEW and ACTTAB -
where the same shareholders may have a similar interpretation of their
roles." 

"Given the crucial role of ACTEW in ensuring the provision of potable
water to the ACT, it is important that the shareholders now review their
responsibilities under the TOC Act so that ACT residents, whose interest
they represent, can feel confidence in them" Dr Foskey said.

================================
The Public Accounts Committee is made up of Deb Foskey (Chair) Karen
MacDonald (Deputy Chair) and Brendan Smyth.


================================
Roland Manderson   Media Advisor
ACT   Greens    MLA  Deb  Foskey  
Legislative Assembly for the ACT 
ph(02)62050551      m 0412241379
==== www.act.greens.org.au ===== 
  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
This email, and any attachments, may be confidential and also privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender and delete all copies of this transmission along with any attachments immediately. You should not copy or use it for any purpose, nor disclose its contents to any other person.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------