Proxy voting forms an important part of our broader sustainable investment program. We conduct our proxy voting in-house. Proxy voting research is provided by the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI) and CGI Glass Lewis.
- The corporate governance principles underlying ACSI’s voting advice can be found in ACSI’s Governance Guidelines.
- ACSI members update these guidelines on a regular basis.
- We report voting activity regularly to the Board as part of our sustainable investment reporting.
- You can see a summary of our voting activity for the previous financial year below, or view the full details of how we've voted on Australian and international companies' proposals.
View our proxy voting record history
We provide the following additional information on how we voted on these shareholder proposals and why:
- In 2020-21, these shareholder proposals totalled 11 and 54 across domestic and international markets, respectively.
- Of the 65 proposals in total, we supported 23, or 35.4%.
- Those that we did not support are the result of our proxy voting policy, outlined above. In most cases, this was because the proposals put what we deemed questionable constraints on company management, addressed risks the company is already managing sufficiently, or weren't well aligned to long-term value for the shareholders of that company.
Proxy voting 2020-21 record2
| Australian voting outcomes |
Quarter 3 2020 |
Quarter 4
2020 |
Quarter 1
2021 |
Quarter 2
2021 |
Total |
| Number of meetings |
12 |
143 |
9 |
33 |
197 |
| Number of resolutions |
55 |
830 |
25 |
179 |
1,089 |
| Votes For |
52 |
721 |
23 |
161 |
957 |
| Votes Against |
3 |
109 |
2 |
18 |
132 |
| Abstentions |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Against votes
(remuneration)2 |
1.8% |
5.5% |
4.0% |
3.9% |
5.1% |
| Against votes (director)3 |
3.6% |
4.3% |
4.0% |
2.8% |
4.0% |
| Against votes (climate change)4 |
0.0% |
0.7% |
0.0% |
2.2% |
0.9% |
| International voting outcomes |
Quarter 3 2020 |
Quarter 4
2020 |
Quarter 1
2021 |
Quarter 2
2021 |
Total |
| Number of meetings |
370 |
234 |
379 |
1,664 |
2,647 |
| Number of resolutions |
3,694 |
1,704 |
3,885 |
22,026 |
31,309 |
| Votes For |
2,915 |
1,407 |
3,028 |
18,228 |
25,578 |
| Votes Against |
656 |
233 |
607 |
2,607 |
4,103 |
| Abstentions |
44 |
19 |
66 |
304 |
433 |
Against votes
(remuneration)2 |
2.1% |
3.3% |
1.9% |
1.8% |
1.9% |
| Against votes (director)3 |
10.6% |
6.6% |
8.5% |
5.8% |
6.7% |
| Against votes (climate change)4 |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.2% |
0.1% |
0.1% |
1. This is the aggregated record of all votes cast on behalf of the Trustee for Australian and international equities over the period..
2. Votes in relation to remuneration reports, share-based remuneration grants, and non-executive director remuneration.
3. Votes in relation to electing Directors.
4. Votes on shareholder proposals that relate to climate change. These were most commonly resolutions seeking some form of action or report on climate change risk management.