Corporate Code of Conduct
Introduction
The purpose of this Corporate Code of Conduct of Wide Bay Australia Ltd (Wide Bay) is to;
- outline the high standards of honest, ethical and law-abiding behaviour that Wide Bay expects of its officers and employees;
- encourage the observance of those standards so as to protect and promote the interests of shareholders and other stakeholders;
- guide officers and employees as to the practices thought necessary to maintain confidence in Wide Bay’s integrity; and
- set out the responsibility and accountability of officers and employees to report and investigate reports of unethical practices.
This Code of Conduct applies to all officers (including non-executive directors) and employees of the Wide Bay group of companies.
Honesty and Integrity
Wide Bay expects all officers and employees to observe the highest standards of honesty, integrity and ethical behaviour in performing their duties and in dealing with Wide Bay’s officers, employees, shareholders, policyholders, other customers, suppliers, auditor, external lawyers and other advisers.
To reinforce Wide Bay culture of honesty and integrity, the group aims to provide a professional and safe working environment
To achieve this Wide Bay:
- does not permit officers and employees to work while under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs;
- is committed to equal opportunity in its employment practices and endorses employment and promotion opportunities based on work related performance;
- is intolerant of harassment in the work place; and
- promotes a healthy and safe work environment and encourages officers and employees to report matters which may cause injury to colleagues or customers.
Conflicts of Interest/Duty
Wide Bay has in place a comprehensive conflict of interest statement as attached hereto.
Encouraging the Reporting of Unlawful and Unethical Behaviour
Wide Bay is committed to promoting and maintaining a culture of compliance with the standards, requirements and expectations set out in this Code of Conduct. To fulfil this commitment, Wide Bay needs to be able to ensure that:
- violations of those standards, requirements and expectations are detected and reported; and
- appropriate action is taken in response to any such violations.
Accordingly, Wide Bay expects each officer and employee to report, promptly and in good faith, any violation by an officer or employee of Wide Bay of the standards, requirements or expectations set out in this Code of Conduct (or of any other unethical, unlawful, fraudulent or corrupt behaviour) of which he or she becomes aware or has reasonable grounds to suspect.
Wide Bay recognises that the identity of the person or persons to whom any such violations should be reported might vary depending on the particular circumstances. Subject to this, as a general rule, officers and employees are encouraged to report any such violations to the Chairman of the Board or the Chief Executive Officer (in the case of directors and CEO direct reports) or to the Company Secretary (in all other cases).
Where an officer or employee (Reporting Person) reports, in good faith, an actual or suspected violation of this Code of Conduct;
- Wide Bay will, to the extent practicable, keep the Reporting Person’s identity confidential; and
- no disciplinary or other adverse action will be taken (or tolerated) against the Reporting Person as a consequence of reporting that violation.
Effect of this Code
This Code of Conduct consists of reasonable directions issued by Wide Bay with which each officer and employee is required to comply under his or her letter of appointment or contract of employment.
This Code of Conduct is to be read in conjunction with an officer or employee’s letter of appointment or contract of employment and is not intended to limit, in any way, any of the terms of that letter or contract
A breach of this Code may result in disciplinary action against an employee up to and including dismissal or other legal action.
