David Murray’s rejection of ESG risk finally catches up with him—and AMP

Commenting on the resignation of David Murray as AMP Chair, Brynn O’Brien, Executive Director at Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility​ (ACCR) said:

“ACCR has always questioned the suitability of David Murray for Chair of a modern ASX50 company.

“Murray is a well-known climate skeptic. He waged a war against the ASX’s inclusion of ‘social licence’ in its Corporate Governance Principles. It is quite ironic that AMP’s catastrophic social licence issues ultimately brought him down.

“When he was appointed as Chair of AMP in 2019, investors should have asked ‘if Murray doesn’t accept the science of climate change, what or who else does he not believe?’ As it turns out, Murray doesn’t believe women.

“It’s abundantly clear that Murray and those who share his views have no place as Directors, much less Chairs, of any listed companies. His views on risk and governance frameworks are stuck in the 80s and do not meet shareholder expectations of modern boards.”