Macquarie CEO pay riles investors as long-standing finance chief exits
In a quarterly update published on Thursday, ahead of its annual meeting, Stevens and Macquarie chief executive Shemara Wikramanayake also announced that company chief financial officer Alex Harvey was stepping down after a 28-year career at Macquarie.
The company also said that its profits were down in its first quarter. But investors have been more interested in Macquarie's executive pay and its record on compliance, which has been in the spotlight after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) launched legal action against the bank in May, alleging 'repeated and systemic' misleading conduct over a failure to report short sales.
Macquarie shares slumped 4.4 per cent in early trade.
It was the watchdog's fourth regulatory action against Macquarie in just over a year. Earlier, in May, ASIC also slapped additional licence conditions on Macquarie Bank, citing several compliance failures relating to futures dealing and over-the-counter derivatives.
Stevens said on Thursday that the ASIC matter on short-selling was before the courts so he was limited in what he could say, but that any remuneration effects from the case would be reflected in the coming financial year. He also vowed to take on the concerns of shareholders, while conceding that a 'significant minority' felt the board should have done more on executive pay.
'I also acknowledge that, while Macquarie's remuneration system is strongly supported by shareholders, a number of shareholders have the view that the board has not adequately reflected risk shortcomings in our FY25 decisions,' Stevens said.
'The board hears your message and will reflect carefully on addressing those concerns.'
Macquarie's remuneration report, published earlier this year, said it had taken into account 'risk and regulatory matters', particularly ASIC's licence conditions, and this had been reflected in the profit share awarded to Wikramanayake and the chief of Macquarie Bank Limited, Stuart Green.
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News.com.au
17 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Cult Western Suburbs chicken chain opens in Sydney's East
Western Sydney's cult-favourite charcoal chicken institution, El Jannah, has officially landed in the Eastern Suburbs. The iconic Western Suburbs institution, which launched in Granville in 1998, is famous for its mouth-watering chicken and legendary garlic sauce. It has now opened its first store in the city's east, with the Randwick location on Belmore Road celebrating its grand opening on Saturday. To mark the milestone, anyone with the name Charlie (or any variation – Charles, Charlotte, Charlene, etc.) eats for free, provided they bring ID. For everyone else, their famous quarter chicken meal (with chips, garlic sauce and a drink) is just $5. Videos posted on the business's social media show huge lines snaking around the block, as families, couples, friends and singles waited their turn to get their hands on the famous chicken. The foodie corner of the internet has lit up with excitement and rave reviews. DJ Mistah Cee posted on TikTok that he was excited about the 'greatest chicken known to man' coming to the East. Meanwhile, Miss Double Bay, a local influencer, told her followers: 'El Jannah has infiltrated the East, nature is healing'. Other customers called it 'the best' and the chicken 'juicy'. The Randwick outpost will offer the full menu, including their famous falafels, pickles, fresh rolls and tabouli. 'Opening in Randwick is a milestone moment for us and a reflection of Sydney's ever-growing love for charcoal chicken,' said Adam Issa, Head of Marketing at El Jannah. 'What began as a single family-run store has grown by keeping true to our founding principles; serving honest food, made with care, and shared with community.' The store was founded by Lebanese immigrants Andre and Carole Estephan, who waited 11 years until they opened a second store in Punchbowl. Now, El Jannah is a huge franchise with over 40 locations across New South Wales and Victoria. The Randwick opening has redrawn the city's 'Red Rooster Line' – an online theory that if you plot Red Rooster locations across Sydney, a boundary emerges between the city's north east from the south west. It's also known colloquially as the Latte Line, the Colorbond Fence and the Quinoa Curtain. Honi Soit expanded on the idea when they said it wasn't just Red Rooster that defined Sydney geography, but other chains that also helped shape the city's boundaries. El Jannah's Randwick store is the sixth outpost to cross the Red Rooster Line.
SBS Australia
2 hours ago
- SBS Australia
'Our brains are becoming overloaded': Why workplaces are due for an update
By the time mother-of-two Anna Dadic gets into the office in the morning, she already feels like she's "fought three wars". The 42-year-old lives in the inner-west Sydney suburb of Marrickville, works full-time and is still breastfeeding her youngest child. She says she's constantly exhausted. On weekdays, her routine starts at 5.30am so she can ready herself for work and drop her kids off at childcare. She describes the process as "rinse and repeat". "We are regimented in our routine and if anything upsets the order of things [such as someone falling sick] everything gets a lot harder," she says. Dadic's husband does childcare pick-ups in the evenings, but then there's dinner to prepare, bathtime and the battle to put her children to bed. Winter is dreadful, she says, because the kids pick up various bugs from childcare. "We are pretty socially isolated. Evening plans feel impossible, and we are usually too tired anyway, so they happen rarely." In Australia, Dadic's situation is not unique. Most women now work and continue doing so even after having children. Modern working conditions due for an update? Next year will mark 100 years since US carmaker Henry Ford pioneered a five-day work week for employees in his factories, which was a reduction from the six days generally worked. Swinburne University associate professor of management John Hopkins believes modern working conditions are again due for an update, including the possibility of working fewer hours. Henry Ford pioneered the five-day work week in his US factories almost 100 years ago. Source: Getty / PhotoQuest While the concept of a four-day work week has been discussed for more than 50 years, in the past decade, there has been a noticeable uptick in demand for more flexible work arrangements. Hopkins says that over the past century, new technologies such as the internet have sped up the rate at which people can work, but this hasn't necessarily freed up time for workers. "It's actually worked the opposite. They are just required to do more work in the same amount of time," he says. Hopkins says technology has even led to people working longer hours because it allows them to check emails or be available after work. We've had this intensification of work over the last 100 years where we're doing a lot more work in those eight hours per day than we were ever doing before ... and our brains are becoming overloaded. "We need more time to rest [and] recover." The benefits of working less Japan, which is struggling with record-low birth rates, is shortening working hours as a way of encouraging parenthood. In April, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government introduced a flexible work system that allows its employees to take three days off per week while maintaining the same total working hours over a four-week period. In a statement to SBS News, a spokesperson says the program allows employees to balance work and childcare responsibilities, and also helps those without children care for family members or pursue personal development. An additional program specifically for parents of young children allows them to shorten their working hours by up to two hours per day. "These hours do not need to be made up at a later date," the spokesperson says. Hopkins says his research has found significant benefits to allowing workers to reduce their work hours — with no drop in salary — including a reduction in sick days, staff turnover, burnout and work-related stress. Japan has announced measures to ease the pressures of working life as it attempts to improve its low birth rate. Source: Getty / Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg As part of Hopkins' recent research project in Australia, 10 senior managers were interviewed about their experiences with introducing the four-day work week. A preview report released in 2023 showed that 70 per cent of employers observed increased productivity, while the other 30 per cent reported no change. None reported a drop. Positive results included reduced sick days and better ability to compete for talent and retain staff. Workers found they had time to complete life admin tasks, take weekends away (including visiting family) and invest in self-care activities, such as exercise, massages and doctor visits. They also had more time to participate in hobbies. This week, a paper published in the scientific journal Nature Human Behaviour also reported that employees who trialled a four-day work week were less likely to suffer burnout, had a higher rate of job satisfaction, and better mental and physical health. More than 2,800 employees across 141 organisations in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland and the US were surveyed. Ahead of the six-month trial, low-value activities such as "unnecessary meetings" were eliminated to prepare people for working reduced hours. The four-day work week is just one of several flexible work arrangements that are becoming increasingly popular, including hybrid work, remote work, unlimited leave, gender-neutral parental leave and flexible public holidays. 'You need time to rest and recover' Hopkins says one of the reasons Henry Ford dropped the number of work days from six to five was because he realised productivity didn't drop. To perform at your best, to be the most productive, most efficient, you need time to rest and you need time to recover. Hopkins points to AFL players as an example, noting they only play games once a week for six months of the year. "If they were to play twice a week or three times a week, what would happen? They'd start to get more injuries, their performance would drop off." Just as athletes can get physical injuries if they push themselves too hard, other workers are susceptible to burnout. Source: Getty / Morgan Hancock He says some of the people interviewed for the four-day week survey said they no longer experienced the "Sunday scaries" before the start of the working week, when they would usually feel scared or apprehensive. It also gave people more time to reflect on their work, Hopkins says, and identify ways of improving. "You never have a good idea when you're working, you have a good idea when you're in the shower or when you're taking the dog for a walk, because your brain is thinking about different things and allows you to be creative," he says. "So it is about striking that right balance between work and rest and recovery to optimise performance." Young and middle-aged workers are feeling exhausted Hopkins believes that work hours will be reassessed, partly because workers are feeling burnt out. A 2023 Melbourne University study on the State of the Future of Work found that 33 per cent of young and middle-aged workers reported difficulty concentrating at work because of their responsibilities outside of work. This compares to just 11 per cent of mature workers (aged 55 years or older). The study looked at data from 1,400 Australian workers and found prime-aged workers (between 18 and 54 years old) were also twice as likely to feel like they didn't have enough time to do everything they needed to do compared to older workers. More than half of the workers without access to flexible work surveyed reported feeling exhausted (55 per cent) compared to 45 workers who had access to flexible conditions. They also felt less motivated while at work. Unions push for four-day work week This week, both the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) and the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) issued statements calling for a shorter working week to be introduced, ahead of the federal government's productivity roundtable next month. Steve Murphy, national secretary of the AMWU, says gains from improved productivity over the past decade have gone to bosses and not to workers. "The best and most logical way to fairly share the gains of productivity is for workers to not have to work as many hours, and to move to a shorter working week," he says. Productivity cannot be at the expense of the wellbeing of workers. The most recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows labour productivity fell by 1 per cent in the year to March, even though the number of hours worked rose by 2.3 per cent. A Productivity Commission bulletin in June noted productivity growth over the past decade had stagnated. "In the absence of a growing productivity dividend, the dream of a more balanced life ... risks slipping out of reach for many Australians," it says. Since 1980, Australians have used about 23 per cent of their productivity dividend — the savings from increasing productivity via automation and technological advancements — to work less, and banked the other 77 per cent as higher income. The report notes that Australians have opted to use those savings to upgrade their lifestyles, such as buying fancier coffee and taking more expensive holidays, rather than further shortening their workdays. It's hoped artificial intelligence (AI) will drive further productivity improvements, and unions want these benefits to be shared with workers. ANMF federal secretary Annie Butler says the union believes shorter working weeks will promote gender equality because it will allow caring responsibilities to be more easily shared between partners, as noted in a 2023 report by the Senate Select Committee on Work and Care. Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation federal secretary Annie Butler says the union supports shorter working hours. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas "By changing the definition of 'full-time' work and encouraging a culture shift away from a focus on hours to that of productivity and work quality, the reduced hour model may lead to the removal of some of the barriers to women's professional advancement," the committee's report says. Part-time jobs may also be better paid because working for two days would be considered "half a full-time equivalent". Butler says shorter working weeks would have a positive effect on women's workforce participation, increase the number of hours workers have to balance their well-being and care responsibilities, and ultimately improve retention. Could a four-day week be backed by government? The Greens also support the introduction of a four-day work week. "[It's] a better way to work and one that puts the health and happiness of workers first, while allowing the productivity of businesses to soar," Greens spokesperson for jobs and employment, Senator Barbara Pocock, says. It's a win for workers and a win for workplaces. As part of its election campaign, the Greens supported bringing a test case to the Fair Work Commission and establishing a national institute to guide implementation of a four-day work week. Pocock says the Greens remain committed to the policy. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told The Australian newspaper this week he would support practical measures from the productivity roundtable that had broad support from business, unions and civil society. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he is looking for productivity measures that have broad support. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas The Coalition, which walked back a proposal to force Canberra public servants back into the office five days a week during the federal election campaign , appeared non-committal when asked whether it supported the four-day work week. "Liberals believe in agency and empowerment," Coalition spokesperson for industrial relations and employment Tim Wilson said in a statement to SBS News. "Improving standards of living comes from partnerships to get ahead through salaries, startups, shareholdings and small business, and we are going to back Australians to back themselves." While there are benefits to a shorter working week, Hopkins' research on the four-day work week also identified several challenges. This includes overcoming scepticism about its potential to increase productivity, making changes to roster systems so that staff can maintain services over five days, and the management of part-time workers. Hopkins says moving to a four-day work week is not easy; it takes planning and piloting, but the businesses that have introduced the policy have stuck with it and seen the benefits, including being better able to attract and retain talented staff. Families have changed since the 1950s Demographer Liz Allen, from the Australian National University, says providing extra workplace flexibility could help couples manage the stresses of family life, but it was only one part of the puzzle if authorities want to boost Australia's declining birthrate , which is now at a record low of 1.5 babies per woman. Issues such as housing affordability, economic security, gender equality and climate change also need to be addressed. She says many Australians are struggling to raise families within systems that have been developed based on outdated gender norms. "When it comes to unpaid household work, men are not doing their fair share, and that's not the fault of men, that's how we've been conditioned," she says. Our tax system, our workplace system, all manner of things, are trapping us in this 1950s model of the perfect family. "Family doesn't look like that anymore, family has changed, and the structural supports have not kept [up] with the times." Allen says it may be time to go back to the drawing board rather than continue "trying to fit a square peg into a round hole". "We keep beating ourselves up because we can't get it to work. "We lack the vision to do something different." People want a share of the time saved by AI While arrangements such as working from home have delivered time savings for some workers, not everyone benefits from this. Hopkins says only about a third of jobs are remote-capable. [Some] people feel like they've been left behind. Their white collar colleagues have all of a sudden gained all this flexibility and ability to work from home over the last few years and they haven't gained anything. However, improved rostering and better access to holidays could help these workers, says Hopkins. There may also be scope to consider whether a worker can perform some elements of their role at home, such as a train driver who may also have administrative tasks and logbooks to complete. AI may help employees work faster and Hopkins says "people want a share in the time that's saved". Workers want a share of the time saved by new technology such as AI. Source: Getty / Oscar Wong "They don't want to be working the same number of hours that people were working 100 years ago." But he says this will ultimately come down to the management of technology and business owners. 'A miserable feeling' Dadic works from home two days a week, and her husband works a four-day week a couple of times a month. Her mother also helps out when her children — aged three and 16 months — are sick or something urgent comes up. She worries that she and her husband are too tired to be fully present with their kids and are missing the joyful moments. "I worry that, over time, that could have an impact on [the kids]." Anna Dadic says she is exhausted due to juggling the demands of full-time work and being a mother to two children. Source: Supplied Dadic's aware of how lucky she is and how much worse things could be, but worries she's not living life to the fullest because she's constantly stressed and running on empty. "That's a miserable feeling," she says. "It's this constant cycle of guilt, worry, and self-criticism that's hard to break." Additional reporting by AAP This is part two of a series looking at how modern families are balancing the pressures of working life. Read part one here.
News.com.au
7 hours ago
- News.com.au
‘Nightmare': Meriton resident faces ‘unrelenting' noise from Woolworths loading dock metres away
A Sydney apartment owner says he is at his wits' end after enduring months of 'deafening' and 'unrelenting' noise coming from a Woolworths loading dock located just metres away on the other side of his bedroom wall. Yang Yuan, 32, has questioned how building standards allowed the unusual layout of Mascot Central, where he claims his family is exposed to 'severe industrial noise', including reversing trucks, heavy metal impacts and rolling pallet jacks, from 7am to 11.40pm every day. 'It's a nightmare,' he told 'The noise is very intermittent, very random and very loud. The workers on the loading dock work on shifts — we are there, we don't have shifts. When they're working, I put my hand against the bedroom ceiling and I can literally feel it shaking. It feels as if we're living inside the loading dock.' The software engineer purchased the $750,000 one-bedroom unit in November last year and moved in with his wife and two cats straight away. The mixed-use Meriton development, located in Sydney's inner-south, was completed in 2016, and the developer says it has never received any noise complaints until now. But Mr Yuan, who has recorded multiple videos of the loud banging and industrial noise reverberating through his bedroom, says he feels abandoned by Meriton, Woolworths and Bayside Council, accusing them of repeatedly 'deflecting or denying responsibility' despite repeated complaints. 'They have put a lot of effort into denying the problem but if they had put the same amount of effort into investigating the issue it might already have been solved,' he said. Mr Yuan said the noise made it 'impossible' to work from home, 'rest or live comfortably', and left the couple's mental health in tatters. 'I've previously lived in some of the noisiest environments imaginable — next to highways, above bus stops, near construction sites, even beside neighbours playing instruments,' he said. 'None of that ever bothered me. When I say this loading dock noise is unbearable, it's not about sensitivity, it's genuinely extreme.' He and his wife, who works as a freelance digital artist, are now 'suffering from chronic sleep deprivation, heightened anxiety and constant anger'. 'Most of our free time is now spent fighting this — countless hours filming, recording, investigating and contacting different parties for help,' he said. Mr Yuan and his wife have now moved their bed into the downstairs living room to escape the worst of the noise. 'In the living room we can also hear the noise but it's like 10 per cent better,' he said. He added that he felt the build quality contributed to the noise penetration. He said the building materials were 'definitely not good for isolating the noise considering you're building next to the loading dock.' After his initial complaints to Meriton, the developer obtained a noise testing report in April, which found no issues. In May, Mr Yuan hired a professional acoustic engineer at his own cost. Over a two-day period, KR Acoustic recorded more than two dozen instances at nearly double the limits prescribed by the Association of Australasian Acoustical Consultants (AAAC) for 'impulsive' noises such those as generated by weight dropping in gyms. The sample identified 10 noise events measuring 61dBA during the day, versus the 35dBA limit, nine measuring 58dBA during the evening, when the limit is 30dBA, and six at night measuring 50dBA, double the 25dBA limit. The noise events were 'both loud and frequent, regularly exceeding allowable limits at all hours of the day', the report said. KR Acoustic concluded that noise was 'structure-borne, originating from activities at the Woolworths loading dock, and it consistently exceeds the impulsive noise limits set by the AAAC, particularly in relation to gym weight drops but also relevant for similar structure borne impulsive noise in general'. 'The measurement results substantiate residents' concerns, providing sufficient grounds for authorised officers or enforcement personnel to further investigate and to classify the noise as offensive,' it said. 'It is very likely that the noise contributes to elevated stress levels of the residents.' Mr Yuan provided the report both to Meriton and Bayside Council in June. The council said it was investigating the noise complaint, but in July informed Mr Yuan that Meriton had provided its own acoustic report which countered his, and declined to pursue the matter. Mr Yuan said he had only been provided a summary of the conflicting report. 'No one is trying to help us,' he said. A Woolworths spokesman said the Mascot Central store was operated 'like any one of our supermarkets'. 'The store is open between 7am and 10pm, and receives deliveries throughout the day,' he said. 'We've been operating in the community for close to 10 years. If there's any further questions about the operation of the shopping centre, they're best directed to Meriton.' A Meriton spokesman said Mascot Central was a 'well established development now over 10 years old, and to date, this is the only complaint Meriton has received regarding noise from the loading dock'. 'The concern was raised by a new owner who has only recently moved in,' he said. 'It's important to note that the previous owner of the same apartment did not report any noise issues over a nine-year period, nor have we received similar concerns from other residents within Mascot Central, which comprises 1200 apartments. Nonetheless, Meriton took the matter seriously and engaged an independent acoustic engineer to conduct a thorough assessment. Noise monitors were installed over a period of time. The investigation confirmed that noise levels were well within the acceptable range and did not exceed any regulatory thresholds.' Bayside Council said in a statement it was 'working with Woolworths and Meriton to identify any additional noise mitigation measures that could be implemented, while still supporting the approved use of the site'. 'Under the current development consent, Woolworths is permitted to operate until midnight, with loading dock use allowed until 10pm,' a spokesperson said. 'An acoustic report was submitted by one resident in early June 2025. Meriton, who manage the retail complex, provided an acoustic report in response and their findings conflict with the resident's report. Council will continue to work to find a suitable resolution for all parties.'
