Asciano chairman Malcolm Broomhead has indicated the company will push for greater diversity in its future operations.
Speaking at this week’s company annual meeting where both he and chief executive John Mullen were reindorsed for another term by shareholders, Mr Broomhead said the challenge of gender diversity “is particularly strong for Asciano because we operate in a traditionally male-dominated industry”.
It was an apt observation, given Asciano’s lily-white 10-person board includes just two women.
“While we may not have made as great a progress as we had hoped, we have developed programs to open new roles for women and over the last year we have invested in the training to increase the broader diversity of our frontline workforce and management team,” Mr Broomhead said.
“The business is well positioned now to deliver meaningful results and diversity as we move forward.”
The meeting was somewhat overshadowed by the announcement of the Qube takeover offer, with Asciano shareholders now comparing that offer with that of Canadian company Brookfield Infrastructure.
This story was originally published by Rail Express affiliate Lloyd’s List Australia.
