The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services has released its report on shareholder engagement and participation.

The Committee made specific recommendations in two
categories:

• the efficacy and integrity of different voting mechanisms; that
  is, the vote lodgement and recording process; and
• the capacity for shareholders to exercise their voting
  entitlements effectively.

The Committee also concluded that:

• the basis for any deficiencies in the participation and engagement of
  shareholders on corporate governance matters is frequently company or
  shareholder inertia or apathy, or companies’ cultural resistance to
  acknowledging the views of investors. In other words, investors and companies
  are not always choosing best practice currently permitted by the current
  regulatory framework, rather than being hampered by it, or being permitted to
  abuse an overly relaxed system to the detriment of shareholders. Consequently,
  the majority of contributors suggested that additional regulation may not be
  effective or warranted in facilitating engagement.
• while short selling is a legitimate
  trading tool, it is necessary to ensure it is appropriately disclosed to the
  market to ensure that undesirable practices that potentially accompany short
  sales can be identified by regulators. Further, the committee does not oppose
  institutional investors lending their stocks to maximise returns, but considers
  that funds should be required to disclose their stock lending practices or
  policies to members.