Corporate Governance and Development of Melbourne Train Network

This literature review examines the corporate governance structure and operational framework surrounding the development of Melbourne's Metropolitan Train Network, focusing on Public Transport Victoria (PTV) and its role in ensuring a safe, reliable, and punctual transport system. It delves into the organizational strategy, highlighting PTV's commitment to occupational health and safety, risk management, and workforce training. The review further explores the composition and qualifications of PTV's Board of Directors, emphasizing their expertise in various sectors. It also touches upon the regulations governing corporate governance, particularly the ASX Principles of Good Corporate Governance, ensuring ethical and responsible conduct, safeguarding corporate reporting integrity, and promoting timely disclosures. The analysis incorporates institutional theory to provide a comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing the governance and operation of Melbourne's train network. Desklib provides students access to similar solved assignments and study tools.

Construction of Melbourne
Metropolitan Train Network
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Contents
Chapter 2:...................................................................................................................................3
2.1 Introduction......................................................................................................................3
2.2 Corporate governance......................................................................................................3
2.3 Board of Directors............................................................................................................4
2.4 Corporate collapses..........................................................................................................6
2.5 Regulations of corporate governance:..............................................................................6
2.6 The ASX Principles of Good Corporate governance:......................................................6
2.7 Conclusion:......................................................................................................................8
Chapter 3:...................................................................................................................................9
3.1 Introduction:.....................................................................................................................9
3.2 Research framework:.......................................................................................................9
3.3 Research Data.................................................................................................................10
3.4 Design methodology......................................................................................................10
3.5 Theoretical framework...................................................................................................11
3.5.1 Institutional theory......................................................................................................11
3.6 Conclusion......................................................................................................................12
References:...............................................................................................................................13
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Chapter 2:
Literature Review:
2.1 Introduction
The literature review will be associated with analysing and identifying the corporate structure
and establishment associated with development of MURL (Melbourne Underground Rail
Loop) which will serve the needs of Melbourne, Australia, and Victoria. The body
responsible for construction and operating the concerned railway loop is Public Transport
Victoria which has been performing operations on behalf of Public Transport Development
Authority (Scheurer, et. al., 2016). The company commenced and started its operational
activity on 2 April 2012 which was following an amendment to the Transport Integration Act
2010. The main objective of the company was associated with coordinating, providing,
operating and maintaining a safe, reliable and punctual transport system and infrastructure
which shall be consistent with the vision statement of railway or transport system of
Australia.
2.2 Corporate governance
The corporate governance and organisational strategy of Public Transport Victoria states that
the company is committed towards maintaining a public transport system which is safe for
the passengers, workers and community. The company takes regular and committed action
for understanding and managing the occupational health and safety risks the corporate
governance states that the formation of PTV Integrated Safety and Environment Management
System has resulted in establishment of better safety obligations. The management
commitment towards complying with the health and environment safety policy has to be
fulfilled all the time while taking care of the operations concerned with Metro Constructions.
The consultation and participation clause in governance structure of the company stares that
evidences associated with agreed structure of designated workgroups, health and safety
representatives has been allocated adequately and the compliances have been fulfilled related
to this aspect. The risk management of the company will be associated with identifying and
evaluating the exposure of mishappenings and recognizing the internal audit risk HSR
provisional improvements and work safe notices (Lowe & Wright, 2018). The training aspect
related with organisation considers the objective of providing training to the workforces so
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that they can perform the work and operations efficiently and effectively. The same has been
stated in HSR training percentage in the annual reports. The PTV Board Remuneration
Committee is responsible for handling the remunerations policies issues and ensuring the
appropriate remuneration policies has been introduced in the company. It is also responsible
for ensuring that all the executives are rewarded responsible and fairly. The rewards and
compensation will be determined after considering the various terms and conditions as stated
in the appointment engagement letter and considering the responsibilities and performances
of the individuals. The PTV Board Health, Safety and Environment Sub Committee have
been established in order to promote a strong and proactive culture in PTV culture which
helps in valuing health, safety and integrity. The PTV Board and risk committee has been
established in order fulfil the responsibilities regarding the financial performance and
financial reporting progress. This committee will be responsible for reviewing the accounting
policies and the operations and management of risk. All of these committees established in
the organisation are committed towards ensuring that all the operations has been taken into
effect after considering the health and safety needs of the environment in the organisation.
This will also help in maintain and appropriate and friendly structure in the organisation
(Scheurer, et. al., 2016).
2.3 Board of Directors
The organisation corporate structure consists of the chairman, deputy chairman and other
director who are responsible for carrying out the operation and preparing appropriate
strategically direction for the employees of company and workers. Patricia Faulkner is the
chairman and also the director of company. She is also acting as a business consultant having
enough senior executive experience in the range of sectors which includes
telecommunication, government, healthcare, and other professional sectors. Patricia Faulkner
is also the deputy chairman of St Vincent’s Health Australia and has been sitting on the
Board Committee for Economic Development of Australia. She is also the trustee at
VicSuper and a committee member of the Melbourne Racing Club Committee. Patricia
Faulkner has been appointed as a chairman on 1st October 2015 and was deputy chairman on
the date I July 2015. She was made officer of the Order of Australia in the year 2008 for
providing services to the community by developing and implementing the public policy
associated with health, aged care, children’s services, disability services and housing. In the
year 2013 she was recognized as the Honorary Doctorate from Monash University. This
shows that the chairman of PTV has adequate experience necessary for performing the
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responsibilities and work associated with the company. The deputy chairman of the company
PTV is Doug Bartley who is having an adequate and extensive experience and knowledge in
human resources. He has also acquired enough experience in managing financial matters, and
governing across the transport, financial services and trading industries of different sectors.
Previously he was acting as a Chairman of KPMG in Victoria. He was also formerly Partner
in Charge of KPMG’s Global Japanese Practice in Australia. Doug Bartley was appointed at
this post of deputy chairman on 12 December 2011 and was Chairman from 1 July 2015 to 30
September 2015. The other directors of the company include Virginia Hickey, Kevin Norris
and Thomas Sargent. Virginia Hickey is having an expertise knowledge n corporate strategy
and governance and he has been a lawyer. Mr. Hickey has been appointed in many boards
consisting of Chair of Trans Adelaide, Adelaide’s metropolitan passenger rail operator,
Commissioner at the National Transport Commission, Director of Flinders Ports (the owner
of the Port of Adelaide) and Chair of the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman Council.
He was appointed as the Board of Director in PTV on I July 2012. Another board member
Kevin Norris is having an adequate and sufficient experience of 30 years in the bus industry
of Victoria. He is having a rightful experience in negotiations associated with contracts,
industrial relationship practices and advocacy (Lowe & Wright, 2018). The expertise of
Kevin is also experienced in the field of bus operations, bus network planning, public
transport modal coordination and integration, ticketing systems and systems development.
Kevin is currently employed and engaged in major expansion of bus for the Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia which is associated with developing and promoting appropriate infrastructure
for encouraging more girls to attend the schools up to the end of secondary level at least.
Kevin Norris was appointed on the chair of Board of Directors on 1 July 2015. Thomas
Sargent who is regarded as the company director and has been a trusted advisor for national
and international government works. He is engaged in advising on transactions associated
with commercially which are related with construction, operations and maintenance of public
transport system. These all are also associated with integrating public transport safety as well
as obtaining civil construction in an appropriate manner. Thomas has been acting as a
director of Non-profit agencies as well as listed entities. He is also acting as a Pacific
representative of Union Internationale Des Chemins de Fer (UIC) and has been holding a
recognized degree of honours in civil engineering courses. He was appointed at this post on 1
July 2015. Thus it can be established that all the professional requirements and qualifications
has been taken into consideration while forming the board of company and therefore no
ambiguity lies in government structure (Jones & Webb, 2018).
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2.4 Corporate collapses
The corporate collapse will include the financial bankruptcy or the insolvency of a firm
which can be followed by the termination of the existence of the firm in legal capacity. It is a
lengthy price in which a sign of collapses develops over the few years. For the corporate
collapses major issues includes financial obligation and the reason associated with financial
discrepancies. Thus financial crisis in the company can be a major reason of corporate
collapse. For PTV there was no corporate collapse as the company is engaged in operation of
construction of public transport and there were no financial crisis recognized for the company
(Jones & Webb, 2018).
2.5 Regulations of corporate governance:
The regulations associated with corporate governances will be associated with various types
of rules and practices and the processes which will govern the company policies and the firm
will be directed and controlled in an adequate manner. The regulation established in this
behalf will ensure that the interest of the stakeholders will be managed at a balanced level and
therefore the interest of community, suppliers, shareholders, financiers, general public and
other parties has been taken into consideration. These regulation and principles will be crucial
for attaining the company objectives and plans. In PTV the developments will be associated
with legislations associated with health and safety measures and appropriate regulation has
been placed to ensure the same in place. The Board will ensure that compliances and
regulations will be placed on the corporate structure of the company and this will help in
maintain a corporate culture in the organisation (Smith, 2017).
2.6 The ASX Principles of Good Corporate governance:
The ASX corporate governance principles and recommendations will be associated with
setting out and establishing recommended corporate governance practices for the entities and
companies listed on Australian Stock Exchange. These principles and practices are
established for getting reasonable outcomes and meeting the expectations of the investors in
most of the situations. The principle one of the corporate governance will be associated with
‘Laying out solid foundation for management and oversight’. This principle of corporate
governance will be associated with defining and disclosing the roles and responsibilities of
the board and management of company and disclosing appropriately the matters which are
reserved for the board and which are delegated to the management. The roles and
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responsibilities will be listed in the Board charter of the company which will be published
appropriately for the company. The matters which will be disclosed and delegated to
management will depend on the size, complexity of the matters. The second principle as
stated in the ASX compliances is concerned with ‘Structure the Board to value’. The
principle will place relevance on the statement that a listed entity should have and possess an
appropriate composition and size of Board which have adequate and enough skills and
professional qualifications required for the job and they will be committed towards
discharging their duties and responsibilities effectively ad efficiency in the company. The
third principle will be related with the concept that ‘Act ethically and responsible’. The
principle will require a listed entity to ac ethically and responsibly. This can be achieved by
complying with the rules and legislations concerned with the entity and acting honestly, with
integrity in a manner which will be consistent and adequate with the expectations of the
investors and the community concerned with the operation of company. The ethical
responsibility will also be concerned with placing an emphasis on promoting a sound
workforce environment for the company. The other principle will be associated with
‘Safeguard integrity in corporate reporting’. The same principle will require a listed entity to
have adequate formal and rigorous processes that can independently verify and safeguard the
integrity associated with corporate reporting. Therefore the board is required to form an audit
committee and disclose the charter of committee which will be necessary for good corporate
governance. The fifth principle of sound corporate governance will be concerned and related
with the statement that ‘Make timely and balanced disclosure’. The principle states that the
entity should disclose timely and adequately all those matters which are necessary for the
person concerned and which will materially affect the investing decision of the users. The
type of information and the sources utilized should be adequately disclosed in this direction.
The other principle will be associated with ‘Respect the rights of security holders’. This is in
relation with respecting the rights of the security holders of company by providing them
appropriate and adequate amount of information and which allows them to exercise their
rights in an effective manner (Stephan & Athanassiadis, 2018). The principle will be
‘Recognize and manage risk’. This principle will require an entity to establish a sound risk
management system and framework periodically and reviewing regularly the effectiveness of
that framework in a sound way. The last principle will be associated with ‘Remunerate fairly
and responsibly’. This will require the company to establish a policy of remuneration in
which the directors and their officials are remunerated fairly and adequately according to
their skills and qualification and the kind of responsibilities provided to them.
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2.7 Conclusion:
The literature review was concerned with identifying and analysing the corporate governance
prevailing in Australia and associated with construction of MURL. This concludes that
corporate governance for the project was associated with the company Public Transport
Victoria and the Board of directors have been appointed and structure adequately ad
appropriately. Also the ASX principles issued in this behalf will require maintain a standard
integrity for the company and its stakeholders.
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Chapter 3:
Research Design:
3.1 Introduction:
The purpose of the study is to identify and acquire the knowledge about the impact which
sound corporate governance principle has on the company. This will require conducting a
research framework and finding the research data in order to acquire the appropriate
information. A research methodology will be developed in which a comparative analysis will
be performed in respect of Indian railways and Australian Railways. This will help in
enhancing the quality of research in context of Metro rail system. The theoretical framework
will also be developed and this will help in identifying and establishing an overall conclusion.
3.2 Research framework:
The decision of choosing the correct and the relevant topic for researching and the
methodology which can be used to complete the research for the topic is included in the
research conducted. The correct analysis of the research data obtained through the research
design will be considered. A qualitative approach is used to collect the data For the
Melbourne Underground Rail Loop construction (Smith, 2017).
When the research is focused on understanding and description of the ideas, experiences
beliefs, and value of the topic a Qualitative research is used. This research is conducted in
order to find the various possible reasons that could lead to development of the Melbourne
Underground Rail Loop project and their after effects on the project. The best way to
understand the requirements of the user from the railways and the management of the
minimum possible resources in completing the work (Bryman, 2006) is through the planning
of the circular loop rather than using railway system.
A factual data about the total ongoing develeopment proicess can also be gathered through a
well observed quantative approach. A study from the year 1929 to the year in which the
underground railways was suggested, i.e. 1971 in which the construction started and the data
till now was conducted and the whole data was collected and revised there on.
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The impact of the constitutional politically and management basis on the people will be
accumulated in the research which will consist of the years the data that states the full
development process. The best results can be gathered through a mixture of both quantitative
and qualitative approach from the study (Cavana, Delahaye, and Sekaran, 2001).
3.3 Research Data
A research was conducted so as to reach at the relevant conclusion based on the following
points:
 Melbourne’s population growth: There has been a significant growth in the
population in the city of Melbourne in recent years, from the year 2012-2013 and
2013- 2014 there has been an annual growth in population to around 2.2% and this as
per the research done by Victoria future 2014 projections is expected to reach 6
million by 2031 and 7.8 million by 2051.
 Greenfield residential growth: around 40 % of the residential growth in the
city of Melbourne is expected to be at the Greenfield residential developments which
include local government areas like Hume, Melton Wyndham, Cardinia and
Whittlesea. These areas are already experiencing a high percentage of growth in
population at around 6 % p.a.
 Growth in employment in central Melbourne: Melbourne is now presenting
itself as a great opportunity to work in the various fields like education sectors
knowledge based sectors, financial and insurance sectors. As per a study conducted
Knowledge-based services now account for 21.6 per cent of Gross State Product
(GSP), up from 17.8 per cent. These are expected to grow even higher in future
(Diemer, et. al., 2018).
 An astonishing rail patronage facility: There has been an increase from 89
million trips in 1980-81 to 227.5 million trips in 2014-15. This higher use of rails is
due to the access use of railways in the morning working hours as people find it
difficult to use other means of transport. The use of patronage lines in Melbourne is
higher than any other areas in the continent.
3.4 Design methodology
While developing the research methodology it is necessary to perform a comparative analysis
regarding the railway system of India and Australia and the same will help in identifying the
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data appropriate for conducting a detailed investigation regarding the pros and cons of
MURL and the concerned railway system of the company.
It can be established that Indian railways has been operating around more than 11000 trains
per day in which at least 7000 passengers travel for their day to day activities. The railway
system of India has played a crucial role in in enhancing the pace of economic development
and has been paying a critical role in being an integral part of the growth engine of the
country. The advancements in railway system has experienced and gravitating towards
heavy-haul in freight, high speed in passenger services and rail-based mass transit in urban
transport. The establishment of new railway lines and metro projects have resulted in
advancement in suitable railway lines for the passengers (Smith, 2017).
In context of Australia heavy haul freight operations are common and trains in Australia are
carrying an excess 20000 tons compared to 5000 tons in India. The Australian railway and
metro system have an advanced and adequate and a well-developed rail based urban transit
system. The country has been investing more of efforts in developing high speed metro trains
and meeting out the remedies of Australian Railway system. The other technological
development in the railway system has resulted in advanced technological and infrastructure
development of the country. Thus it can be established that the railway system of the country
has been growing in a very advanced way by implementing and developing new metro lines.
3.5 Theoretical framework
The theoretical framework of the study related with development and construction of railway
loop has been associated with institutional theory of research. The theoretical framework and
its understanding help the users in understanding the assignment in a better way. The
framework and its understanding will be helpful in determining the research topics and
research methodology which will be required for recognizing the topics. The theoretical
framework of the research will be helpful in monitoring and controlling the system and the
working accordingly and managing the same according to the requirements of the project
(Stephan & Athanassiadis, 2018).
3.5.1 Institutional theory
As per the institutional theory adopted in construction and theoretical framework it can be
established that different types of institutions have different values ad principles which ill
guide the operation of company either externally or internally. The different types of
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pressures which will be experienced while carrying out this operation can be understood
through institutional theory of management. Therefore it can be established that each of the
organisation have specific policies and procedures through which the activities are guided for
practical implementation. This helps in identifying and establishing a relationship between
almost al the participants of institutions. The relationship can be identified between
employees and leaders, various production and techniques processes, and describing the roles
and duties of board of directors of company (Diemer, et. al., 2018). The institutional theory
adopted for research framework is based on the concept that the organisation working in
project development will socially obtain the reward by resources, legitimacy, and their
survival will be based on the acceptance of coercive and normative pressures.
3.6 Conclusion
Thus it can be concluded that the design of the thesis will be recognized with the help of
research framework and understanding the research theory in respect of the project under
consideration. The data selected has been in conformity with the development of MURL. The
comparison with Indian railway system has been performed and it can be established that the
metro rail loop projects are resulting in high technological developments in Australia and the
economic development have been in a significant manner in the country. Also it can be
concluded that all the research have been conducted after taking into consideration the
institutional theory.
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