Cbus chair Wayne Swan has reiterated the fund’s board of directors, including the three recently nominated by the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU), are fully aligned with the necessary competency requirements.
Cbus chair Wayne Swan defended the recent board appointments made by the CFMEU, explaining before a Senate economics committee on Friday that the fund faced a tight 90-day deadline to fill the vacancies in accordance with the SIS Act.
“There was some urgency to make those appointments and we did so correctly after performing fit and proper processes,” he told the committee, adding that a recent Deloitte independent review found the appointees passed the fit and proper tests.
On 19 November, the super fund announced an independent review conducted by Deloitte deemed that “all existing and new directors” on the fund’s board have satisfied a “fit and proper persons test”.
The new appointments subsequently confirmed to the board included Paddy Crumlin, currently the national president of the CFMEU; Jason O’Mara, currently the general manager of operations at the Canberra Tradesmen’s Union Club; and Lucy Weber, currently the director of legal and industrial programs in the national office of the CFMEU.
Addressing concerns highlighted by committee chair Senator Andrew Bragg that board director Crumlin previously chaired “one of the worst performing super funds”, Swan remarked this was not a fair assessment.
“Mr Crumlin does have extensive experience in running super funds and to characterise the experiences of the maritime fund as reflecting on his competence is not a fair thing to do,” Swan said.
“If you look at the evaluations that we looked at, and I assume that Deloitte went through, they’ve concluded that as well.”
He also highlighted that, despite the fact director O’Mara got his primary governance experience from the CFMEU, he brought an “impressive” list of qualifications to the Cbus board, having undertaken additional study, and upgraded his finance qualifications last year.
“[O’Mara] has a lot of real-life experience in the construction industry and he has real-life experience in administration and he has academic qualifications and certifications. It’s quite an impressive list,” he said.
Swan also defended the appointment of Cbus independent director and risk committee chair Dr John Edwards, after Bragg questioned his suitability for the role.
“He is a great Australian who has extensive experience across the board in both the public and private sector. He spent years as a chief economist to a large commercial firm that I will not name, where he gained a large amount of private sector experience,” Swan said.
“He is a world-renowned economist who is well read and well-practiced in discussions of the economy and in wider areas.
“To suggest that he is not capable or should not be able to be the chair of a risk committee […] is preposterous.”
In a statement following the Senate hearing, Senator Bragg maintained his scepticism of Dr Edwards, stating that being a great Australian “does not guarantee a person has risk management experience”.
He also cast doubt on Swan’s appointment as an independent director at Cbus, given his dual role as the President of the Labour Party.
“Asserting independence without a robust test is not a serious proposition,” Bragg said.
During the Senate hearing, Swan had stated his political experience should not disqualify him from the board position, adding that he remains “uniquely qualified”.
“I don’t think anyone would recommend that you would ban or forbid someone to be an independent director because they were a member of a political party,” Swan said.
“One of the great things about the equal representation model is we have people from employers, unions, from all political parties. I would’ve thought my appointment to the board as an independent director is very much in line with that thinking and also, given my experience, I’m uniquely qualified to be an independent director such as this.”
Cbus has faced months of scrutiny due to its close links with the CFMEU after the union was forced into administration over governance concerns and links to crime.
