Regulation and governance

This stream of research is about the structures and parameters that businesses need to put around the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace, from the board of directors to the factory, shop or office floor.

Researchers Helen Bird and Natania Locke investigate corporate governance practices for managing AI in organisations and the impact of AI on corporate legal liabilities such as directors’ duties.

In response to the technology failure of the CHESS replacement project undertaken by Australian Stock Exchange Ltd (ASX), researchers Helen Bird and William Klein have examined the project’s collapse and tracked the technology failings at the ASX from the project management team to the board of directors.

Their findings were the subject of a detailed submission to the Federal Government’s Joint Parliamentary Committee Inquiry in September 2023 – a governance story that has implications for every business undertaking a technology transformation project. We continue to develop this research to consider its wider implications and insights for Australian businesses.

This research explores the intersections between culture, governance and toxic masculinity in Australia’s public companies in response to the public condemnation of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in 2023.

One of the world’s largest accounting and professional services firms, PwC were found to have shared confidential government information about tax law changes for the purposes of marketing their services to new global clients – leading to government inquiries, investigations by the Australian Federal Police and even a private report commissioned by PwC on its governance.

Researcher Natania Locke prepared a submission on behalf of the Society of Corporate Law Academics (Australia) to the PJC Inquiry into PwC and appeared as an expert witness at a hearing on 23 November 2023, at which her submission was discussed in detail. 

Sexual harassment is a blight on the modern Australian workplace, costing the Australian economy $3.8 billion in lost productivity and victim costs in 2022. New laws now impose a positive duty for employers to eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace. Researchers Jessica Ross and Helen Bird are investigating the corporate governance obligations that this duty entails for Australian companies.

This research, undertaken by Dr Natania Locke concerns the very real and ever present issue of climate and sustainability reporting. Natania examines the international unification of sustainability reporting standards, as well as domestic developments in the setting of such standards, by the EU and four of Australia’s major trading partners — the EU, the USA, the UK, Canada and New Zealand. It foreshadows the key lessons to be taken from these developments, contextualises the recent consultations on the topic by Australian Treasury and shows how Australian developments align with international developments.  

Natania Locke, ‘International Developments in Mandatory Sustainability Disclosure and what it Means for Australian Corporate Disclosure’ (2023) 39(1) Australian Journal of Corporate Law 163-194.