About Stockland

Governance & risk management

The Board takes its governance responsibilities seriously and believes it has the necessary mix of experience and skills to oversee the high standard of corporate governance, integrity and accountability required of a professional and ethical organisation. For more detail, including compliance with the ASX Corporate Governance Council best practice recommendations, please refer to our Financial Report 2009.

Many of our policies and charters for Board Committees can be found on our website. Over the past year we have reviewed and refined our Board Committee Charters and Code of Conduct and Ethical Behaviour.

As a commercial enterprise we make many business decisions that entail a degree of risk. We recognise the importance of managing risk associated with our business activities in a manner that enables us to:

• Maximise profitable opportunities,
• Mitigate or reduce risk which can cause loss,
• Ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations,
• Enhance resilience to external events.

Risk management is about continuously identifying, evaluating, treating and monitoring exposures. While risks can be managed through the introduction of policies, procedures and work practices, we have taken the view that the most effective long-term method is through the creation of a risk-aware culture.

Our product responsibility commitments are included in the following procedures:

• Risk management policy statement,
• Corporate affairs policy.

We are interested in working with organisations that demonstrate a commitment to product responsibility via our sustainable supply chain management policy. See the engaging with our suppliers page.

The Board Audit and Risk Committee receives regular updates from management and relevant external parties on the status of risks. At the time of our equity raising in May 2009 we disclosed key risks to potential investors including:

• Development and planning risks,
• Housing cycle, retirement market and UK market,
• A range of financial risks,
• Asset values and property leasing,
• Environmental matters, regulatory issues and changes in law,
• Insurance and taxation.

For further discussion of our approach to risk management please refer to our Financial Report 2009.

The non-financial risks identified throughout the year are discussed in this report.