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ESG

ESG

Governance, people & planet

We believe good governance is driven by transparency. We are a private Group that wants to ensure all our stakeholders are well informed about the responsibility we take towards our governance, our people, the communities in which we work, and our planet.

ARA: Here for you. Here for good. 

Our Governance

ARA has a well experienced Board, with five independent directors. Our Code of Conduct establishes the ethical standards of conduct and behavioural expectations of our directors. Our code aims to encourage the highest standards of conduct from our Board as they support and guide the Group, our CEO and the Senior Management Team.

The safety of our people and our customers is a critical part of our daily work lives and inherent in our culture. Our dedicated workplace health and safety teams work to ensure our people know how to manage risk and keep the environments in which we work safe. Our businesses conduct regular safety training and report on lost time injury and safety incidents to assist management identify risk areas and ensure high safety standards.

As a responsible investor, part of our growth strategy, is to look for both organic growth and acquisition opportunities which help support regional communities. This year we invested in:

  • a regional fire protection business based in Orange, NSW
  • a sign fabrication business based in Taupo in the North Island of New Zealand
  • two insurance building repair businesses who are at the forefront of responding to communities impacted by severe weather events in Australia

Our experienced internal legal and risk team support our business leaders to ensure we understand potential risks across the Group, in areas including:

  • contractual terms
  • industrial relations
  • acquisitions
  • other compliance matters

Our Cyber Risk Framework was established five years ago to ensure cyber resilience in a challenging environment. To protect our infrastructure and data we have invested in:

  • ongoing end-user training
  • dedicated internal security team
  • 24/7 external security operations centre

We respect human rights and are committed to ensuring we engage in responsible supply chains. Our Modern Slavery Statement complies with the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth). This is ARA’s third statement and covers the reporting period 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023.

Our Tax Corporate Governance framework is governed by our Board’s Tax Policy, our Tax Operations Manual and our Tax risk Management & Procedures Manual. Our Board’s Tax Policy has been drafted in line with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) tax corporate Governance “best practices” for corporate taxpayers. All taxes paid on our profits are paid to tax authorities in Australia, New Zealand and China. In financial year 2024, the Group paid $18.5 million of income tax in Australia and New Zealand, 30.1% of our net profit before tax.

Our people and our communities

With over 3,2000 employees across Australia and New Zealand we are proud to be an employee-owned company. We celebrate our employee successes with recognition each year of our unsung heroes in our Annual Report.

The ongoing training and education opportunities for our workforce is embedded in our culture. We encourage our employees to develop their skills. As a growing organization, new opportunities evolve regularly for our employees. We have a strong focus on diversity and inclusion through our apprenticeship programs. We have a growing number of young female and Indigenous trade apprentices. We work closely with the Departments of Education in NSW and VIC, not-for-profit organisations, Apprenticeship Australia Network Providers, and Disability Employment Service Providers.

We are focused on supporting the mental health and wellbeing of our people through supportive team environments and company policies which drive safe and respectful behavior in our workplaces. Our employee assistance program provides qualified counseling services, available for all employees and their families.

We are compliant with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency. The ARA Group is dedicated to promoting workplace diversity and ensuring equal access to employment for all. We acknowledge that while the metric applied by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency is universally recognised, it is only one measure of gender pay equity and does not consider differences in roles and responsibilities. Each year our businesses review all employees’ pay based on a comparison of role, experience and responsibility to ensure equal pay for all employees, and for all genders.

Our Indigenous business, ARA Indigenous Services, is an industry leader and educator in Indigenous engagement. Our second Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan was launched in 2024. We are committed to creating a culturally safe work environment for Indigenous employees and building a partnership with Indigenous communities and businesses.

Giving back to the communities in which we work and live is a core value for ARA. The ARA Group supports many organisations across conservation, literature, the arts and sport. In the last financial year we gave a total of $3 million to support our communities and not-for-profits. All the organisations we support are highlighted on pages 31 and 32 of this report.

Our Planet

Climate change is a global issue. The corporate world has a responsibility to do its part to reverse the effect of climate change. ARA’s Sustainability Committee has established a road map towards decarbonising our business. Our aim is to operate in a low carbon world, and to ensure we continue building a climate resilient business.

As a services company we rely on energy resources to fuel our fleet, plant, offices and factories. We have conducted a full review of all of our locations to assess our energy usage, renewable energy sources and recycling initiatives. We have started introducing electric and hybrid vehicles to our fleet where possible. We expect to further replace our existing heavy commercial fleet with electric or hybrid vehicles when they become available to the market.

Many of our businesses are ISO14001 Environmental accredited and have policies and procedures in place to minimise the risk of negative environmental impact. This includes the implementation of recycling programs to conserve resources and reduce waste.

Our Sustainability Committee have started preparing for the new Australian Sustainability Reporting Standards, which will be in place for financial year 2026. We are entering a new phase of environmental reporting and will be required to report on our Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.

A number of services across the Group have an important role in reversing the effect of climate change:

ARA Electrical

  • supporting customers upgrading and improving efficiency across their electrical infrastructure

ARA Products

  • manufacture products built to last, with decade long product life cycles
  • fire door manufacturer certified to manufacture both FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) certified doors

ARA Property Services

  • deliver energy management solutions for our customer buildings in our mechanical businesses
  • use cleaning products which are environmentally preferred and recognised by Green Seal or GECA As the impact of climate change evolves, we acknowledge our part to play.

Acknowledgement
of Country

The ARA Group acknowledges the connection of people, land and communities within the areas that we work. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

We seek to maintain meaningful partnerships by undertaking the appropriate engagement practices within our business and for our communities. We know the importance of respecting, understanding and sharing the oldest living cultures in the world.