Despite ill-informed reporting to the contrary, Governance Institute of Australia is not calling for the names of directors to be suppressed on the ASIC register.
What Governance Institute is calling for is for ASIC to issue directors a unique director identity number (DIN), that is linked to the name of that director which will make it easier — not harder — for stakeholders including journalists to track the personal interests and activities of directors.
“And we will continue to support any proposal denying public access to the private address of directors. An address is required, but date and place of birth as well as private address are precisely the sort of information that is required to commit a range of criminal offences including identity theft, identify fraud and assaults on personal security,” Governance Institute chief executive Tim Sheehy added.
“Claims that things like date and place of birth along with residential addresses makes it easier for them to cross-reference databases both in Australia and overseas misses the point. Journalists, like all professionals, should be responsible for conducting their own research. It is not the responsibility of a regulator to make their job easier,” Mr Sheehy added.
Respected media outlet Crikey has already issued a correction on a piece published online yesterday and will publish an article today correctly reporting on Governance Institute’s proposal.
