Mr. Philip Hosford:

I will make two brief comments. I have personal experience of it. I also have experience of it in my credit union. We have a director whose son works in the credit union. It will, therefore, have a direct impact on our board. One of the directors will not be able to sit on the board anymore. Initially, he was not that pleased about it. When one considers it as an overall issue, it is not a good principle to have an employer sitting on the board - I refer to a voluntary person who was elected onto the board - if one of his or her children is an employee. In many cases, although not all, such a person would find it impossible to approach matters relating to the credit union in a totally independent manner. The role of a director is to do the best thing for the credit union, rather than the best thing for his or her son who might work for the credit union.

I used to be a director of my own credit union. I am not referring to Gurranabraher Credit Union, where I work. My mother was a supervisor at the credit union at the time I was on the board. My view is that it is not a good structure to have in place. One would not expect one's mother, brother or sister to go against one when things arise. When a contentious issue arises, one expects the members of one's family to support one. My experience is that they do. That leads to conflict on boards and the formation of groupings. In our view, the best way to avoid this is to ensure family members are not in these roles.