Hot issues
At Westpac, our priorities are directly shaped by stakeholder engagement and particularly arise from our involvement in the Community Consultative Council. Various issues and priorities were raised at the last meeting including:
Workforce
- Workplace equity and conditions
- The implications of globalisation and offshoring
- The effect of the costs of child and aged care on workforce participation by women
- Power and equity in employment markets, and unfair conditions
- Youth unemployment and the pathways to employment
- Mental health in the workplace
- Mature workforce.
Education
- Skills development as a response to labour shortages
- The human capital implications of widespread functional illiteracy
- Special needs of indigenous communities.
Consumer debt
- Over-commitment in lending
- Inappropriate advice or over-selling in wealth management
- Affordable housing and young families as the new homeless.
Ageing Population
- The social isolation of seniors and the impact on social capital
- Engaging and retaining seniors in the workforce
- Aged care challenges.
Climate change and environmental performance
- The economic and social justice impacts of climate change
- The opportunity for climate change and water scarcity to drive sustainability innovation and infrastructure investment
- The implications of the drought and climate change on rural communities, dislocation and the need for transition arrangements
- Potential for coordinated, institutional reforms through the Council of Australian Governments
- Need for market mechanisms and a carbon price.
For more information see our Environment and Climate change.
Indirect impacts
- Capacity building of SMEs through our impact in the supply chain
- Engaging capital markets on environmental, social and governance performance.
