Operational management

Coal LSL is an Australian Government corporation established under the Coal Mining Industry (Long Service Leave) Administration Act 1992 to regulate and manage long service leave entitlements on behalf of eligible employees in the black coal mining industry.

It is subject to the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (PGPA Act).

The basis of management is determined by Coal LSL’s governing legislation and policies approved by the Board of Directors. Coal LSL’s policies include an investment policy and investment strategy for the investment of the Fund’s assets.

Specialist services such as internal audit, actuarial services, legal counsel and asset consultants are retained under contract on an as-required basis.

For risk management, all investments are held by the Master Custodian who is also responsible for reporting on the asset allocation of the Fund relative to the prescribed tolerance range for each asset class.

Coal LSL is subject to a range of accountability and reporting obligations, some of which are outlined in the following pages.

The Board of Directors has the ultimate responsibility for Coal LSL’s performance and is fully accountable to the responsible federal minister, who appoints each of the six Directors.

The role of the Board is to:

• Manage the affairs of Coal LSL, ensuring the proper, efficient and effective performance of Coal LSL’s functions
• Establish and oversee the purpose, objectives, policies and plans of Coal LSL
• Set the scope of the investment mandate, strategies and asset allocation
• Authorise the Chief Executive Officer and other employees to act for/on behalf of Coal LSL in performing delegated responsibilities.

Directors hold office on a part-time basis and are subject to the provisions of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act (PGPA) 2013.

The Board is made up of:

• One Director appointed to represent the companies engaged in black coal mining in NSW or Tasmania
• One Director appointed to represent the companies engaged in black coal mining in Queensland
• One Director appointed to represent companies engaged in black coal mining in Western Australia
• Two Directors appointed to represent the Mining and Energy Division of the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union
• One Director appointed to represent the following organisations: a) Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia b) Automotive, Food, Metals, Engineering, Printing and Kindred Industries Union c) Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers Australia d) Colliery Officials Association of New South Wales e) Mine Managers Association of Australia.

Coal LSL engages a range of professional organisations, in addition to investment managers, to assist in administering the Fund.

Under Senate Order 13, Commonwealth entities are required to be transparent about contracts with a value of $100,000 (including GST) or more and which:

• Have not been fully performed as of 30 June 2023, or
• Have been entered into during the 12 months prior to 30 June 2023.

The accountable authority of Coal LSL has assured that the listed contracts do not contain any inappropriate confidentiality provisions.

As a corporate Commonwealth entity, Coal LSL is subject to the Harradine Motion, a Senate Order that was passed in May 1996 to make government operations more transparent to the Australian public.

The Harradine Motion requires each Minister in the Senate, in respect of each department or agency administered by that Minister, to table a letter of advice before parliament which states that an indexed list of the titles of all relevant files created by the department or agency in the preceding six months has been placed on the internet.

This means we are required to submit a return twice a year. Additionally, we are required to provide access to an indexed list of the names of relevant files created relating to policy advising functions, the development of legislation and matters of public administration.

There were no new files created in the 6 months to June 2023. The following files were created in previous reporting periods:

• Coal Mining Industry (Long Service Leave) Payroll Levy Regulations 2018
• Coal Mining Industry (Long Service Leave) Administration Regulations
• Employer Reimbursement Rules 2017
• Employer Reimbursement Rules 2017 – Explanatory Statement
• Reimbursement Rules Issue Paper
• Timeline – Amending the Employer Reimbursement Rules
• OBPR Preliminary Assessment Form.

In 2019 the PGPA Rule was amended to require all Commonwealth entities to publish their annual report using a digital annual reporting tool (DART) administered by the Finance Minister. The DART collates and publishes reports to one web page, Transparency Portal. A copy of Coal LSL’s digital annual report can be found there. Currently, an additional hard copy is also required to be tabled in Parliament, as per previous years.