The safety net for the building and construction industry.
Annual Report 2020
CEO Foreword
A video message from our CEO, Erik Locke.
Chair Report
A message from our chairman, Brian Boyd.
Snapshot FY20
89,372
Worker and employer members
18,000
Over 18,000 COVID tests on more than 100 building and construction sites
$2,000
New $2,000 COVID
payment
14,450
Preventative education participants
5,309
Counselling sessions and brief interventions
403
33
Incolink Assist
New Employee Assistance Program
Gambling Support
New funding for gambling support
72
General suicide awareness sessions
-$7.1M
$919M
$158.1M
$115.2M
Redundancy claim payments
Covid-19 Testing
How Incolink acted swiftly to protect its members and their jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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More services for our members
We’ve got your back with a range of services to support our members’ professional, financial, physical and mental wellbeing.
Supporting workers’ professional development
Our training programs continue to go from strength to strength. Through sound financial management we are able fund these initiatives through returns on investment as part of our commitment to tackle industry challenges together.
MBAV
CFMEU
PJTF
Special Projects
TOTAL
Types of courses
61
40
43
1
145
Learners
3,037
4,367
8,194
18
15,616
| Types of courses | Learners | |
|---|---|---|
| MBAV | 61 | 3,037 |
| CFMEU | 40 | 4,367 |
| PJTF | 43 | 8,194 |
| Special Projects | 1 | 18 |
| Total | 145 | 15,616 |
Crane Training Program
Incolink is a proud sponsor of the Victorian Crane Training Program.
Protecting workers’ mental wellbeing
Our preventative education program saw us run 282 sessions reaching 14,450 workers. In the second year of our Bluehats suicide prevention services we ran 72 general awareness sessions reaching almost 2,000 participants. We trained 125 Bluehats ensuring more workers have access to someone they can start a conversation with on site.
The combination of these interventions is a substantial increase in the numbers of workers coming to our counselling service with suicide ideation allowing us to help workers when they need us most.
Protecting workers’ physical health
Even before we rolled out onsite COVID testing, we achieved some significant milestones with our prostate testing services on the Incolink Bus.
In the six months following the launch of the Incolink bus last year, 1766 workers jumped on board for onsite skin and health checks. 23% of workers were referred for further investigation.
Protecting workers’ financial health
Aside from our core business of protecting workers’ redundancy, we tackle other financial issues for members.
This year we attracted new funds for a apprenticeship Digital Engagement Project that seeks to prevent and reduce gambling-related harm in local communities across Victoria. The project will intercept young apprentices online and provide them with knowledge, skills and capacity to identify the early signs of problem gambling in themselves, and their peers, providing them with tools and strategies to address that behaviour. This new program will be rolled out in 2020/21.
Better member experience
This year we made things easier for members so that genuine redundancy claims can be made without tax taken out via our streamlined Incolink Redundancy Account and we launched a new App.
Single account for claiming genuine redundancy
New App and digital member card
WorkerLink claims linking members with their entitlements quickly and easily
Launched new Help Centre and live chat for website
A new App to make things easier for members
Taking members interests to policy makers
We recognise the important role government plays in our highly regulated industry and have ensured the interested of members are represented to government on specific issues affecting Incolink
Submission to Macklin Skills Review
Briefing with members of Parliament on Federal legislation
Investments and finance
We invest in a broad range of diversified asset classes with the required blended risk and return characteristics. The composition of our portfolio is set out in the chart and table below, totalling $919.5M at 30 June 2020.
Our investment revenues for FY20 amounted to $17.6m, equating to a 2.1% investment return for the year.
Read the full FY20 Financial Performance Summary
Our investment revenues for FY20 amounted to $17.6m, equating to a 2.1% investment return for the year. While this absolute performance return disappointed compared to the prior year (FY19 – 9.2%), it was still a commendable result given the median balanced super fund returned a negative 1.5% for the year. 2019-20 was a rough ride for all investors as the COVID-19 health pandemic and associated crippling economic closures led to a significant sell-off in investment markets. The benefits of a having a well-diversified portfolio and good investments governance structure is borne out by the positive return achieved in the face of these challenges. Investment performance (gross) over the rolling 4 years to 30 June 2020 was 7.0%, in line with our return objective.
Incolink’s financial performance result is largely dependent on the returns from our investment portfolio. These investment revenues are used to fund Incolink expenditures including:
- the ongoing costs of administering our worker entitlement funds
- delivering a comprehensive suite of member wellbeing and support services
- subsidising a range of tailored insurance benefits for our members
- making significant grant funding available for essential Industry based training for our members and investing in industry OHS initiatives to ensure safer workplaces
- Operating an apprentice liability scheme for our members
The Operating profit for the year was $1.5m, meaning reserves were used to fund apprentice and grant funding outlays. In response to the crisis, we implemented a number of measures to achieve cost savings across the business whilst maintaining and even enhancing our services to members through the use of new technologies and more efficient resource utilisation. Material funding contributions were also secured from external partners to enable Incolink implement a number of important new initiatives during this period to assist the industry through the crisis.
Investments and finance
As it has for most businesses in Australia and across the world, the Covid-19 pandemic has had a major impact on the operational activities of the Incolink during FY20.
Despite a sharp sell-off in investment markets during February/March which saw Incolink’s investment portfolio initially falling by 9%, our investments recovered by the end of June with the portfolio returning 2.1% for the full year.
Our board and governance
More information about our Committees and Governance structure is available here
Brian Boyd
Independent Chairman
(non-voting)
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Brian was a Director since 1992 through to the end of 2019. He is the immediate past Secretary of the Victorian Trades Hall Council and Convenor of the Building Industry Group of Unions (BIG).
Earl Setches
Non-Executive Director
(since 2002)
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Earl has been actively involved in the plumbing industry for 30 years. In 2001 Earl was elected State and Federal Secretary of the Plumbing Trades Employees Union, and he has held both roles ever since. Earl is also Chair of the Plumbing Industry Climate Action Centre and Indigenous Plumbing and Sanitation Foundation, and is a Board Member of the Victorian Building Authority Plumbing Advisory Council, the Building Industry Consultative Committee, Incolink, CBus and the Plumbing Joint Training Fund.
Hedley Davis
Non-Executive Director
(since 2012)
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Hedley has been a Director since 2012. Hedley is an experienced executive with over 25 years of senior management experience in the building, civil infrastructure, and mining services sectors. He is immediate past President of the Master Builders Association of Victoria (MBAV) and also sits on the National Board of the Master Builders Association (MBA).
Radley de Silva
Non-Executive Director
(since 2016)
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Radley was the CEO of Master Builders Victoria from August 2013 to December 2018. Prior to this, Radley held the position of Deputy Executive Director of Master Builders Victoria. Radley has also held various senior management positions both here and overseas across the finance, travel and insurance industries.
Michael O’Neill
Non-Executive Director
(since 2013)
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Michael was appointed Independent non-voting Director in 2013. Michael has senior finance executive experience with NAB and KPMG and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He is an experienced non-executive Director and is currently the Chair of Gymnastics Victoria and a Director of Teachers Mutual Bank, The Royal Women’s Hospital and cohealth.
Ralph Edwards
Non-Executive Director
(since 2016)
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Ralph has been a board member since January 2016. He is the President of the Construction and General Division of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) Victoria/Tasmania branch.
Noel Washington
Non-Executive Director
(since 2017)
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Noel worked in the metal and construction industry for 10 years before he became a Union Official for 25 years with FEDFA and CFMEU where he held the Senior Vice-President position. He has also served on various CFMEU Boards and Committees as well as the Construction Industry Training Board Tasmania.
Louise Hansen
Non-Executive Director
(since 2018)
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Louise Hansen is a Director of Hansen Yuncken and has worked in the construction industry for almost 25 years. She is a past National Director as well as past President of the Victorian Branch of NAWIC (National Association of Women in Construction).
Bill Oliver
Non-Executive Director
(since 2007)
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Bill has been a Director since 2007. He is immediate past State Secretary of the Construction and General Division of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) Victorian Branch.
Ken Gardner
Non-Executive Director
(since 2017)
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Ken Gardner held the position of CEO at Master Plumbers from 2009-2018 and is a Director of Master Plumbers Australia Ltd, the Plumbing Industry Climate Action Centre and the World Plumbing Council.
Previously, Ken was the CEO of independent statutory authorities in Victoria, including the Office of Gas Safety, the Office of the Chief Electrical Inspector and also the combined body – Energy Safe Victoria.
Restructured executive team
Erik Locke
CEO
Erik has been in leadership positions in the private sector, unions and politics for more than twenty years. Prior to joining Incolink, he worked as a Chief of Staff in three jurisdictions, held senior management positions in public relations, professional associations, political parties and the union movement.
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He has worked in the investment banking sector in London, and while managing public relations firms counted some of Australia’s largest corporates, unions and NGOs amongst his clients. Erik sat on the Board of Andrew Denton’s charity, Go Gentle Australia and played a senior role in the marriage equality postal survey. He studied at UWA, Murdoch and Griffith Universities, collecting Bachelor of Arts in Politics, Communications, Australia and the Asia Pacific. He is a member of and is currently completing his AICD course.
Tri Duc Nguyen
General Counsel & Company Secretary
Tri is a highly experienced corporate lawyer responsible for the critical portfolios of legal, risk, governance & compliance, people & culture, industry grants and members insurance. He brings to Incolink his diverse legal and commercial expertise gained from Executive roles in ASX listed entities and Government. Tri is a Fellow member of the Chartered Governance Institute. He is a passionate supporter of world Indigenous cultural preservation through education and empowerment.
Patricia McCourt
Executive General Manager, Member Services
Patricia joined Incolink as General Manager Member Wellbeing & Support Services team in 2015. Patricia has crucial executive and board level expertise in large NGO and NFP organisations with particular skills in business and administration process development, implementation and continuous improvement; member-based organisations and implementing innovative wellbeing initiatives.
Niall Keane
Chief Financial & Investments Officer
Niall is Incolink’s Chief Financial and Investments Officer, having joined the organisation in 2014. Niall oversees the end to end investments, accounting, financial reporting, treasury, financial planning & analysis, audit, tax and corporate administration functions at Incolink. Niall has worked closely with the CEO and Leadership team since his arrival in driving and implementing significant business transformation initiatives.
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Niall has over 25 years of experience building and leading finance teams spanning a number of organisations with significant operating scale and complexity. Prior to joining Incolink, Niall was CFO at multi-boutique fund manager, Perennial and previously at Victorian Funds Management Corporation.
Niall is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in both Australia and Ireland, holds a master’s degree in Business Administration from Monash University and is a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Ashleigh Connolly
Executive General Manager, Operations
Ashleigh is an executive manager with vast experience and knowledge in member services organisations and superannuation funds. She is responsible for Incolinks digital development, IT, business development, operations, marketing and communications and member engagement functions.
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Ashleigh, working closely with her colleagues in the executive team and CEO, has led significant change across the organistation, driving a focus on the member. This includes the simplification of communications and processes to help build a stronger connection to our worker and employer members.
Ashleigh is a mentor to women across a range of industries and an avid reader. Ashleigh holds an Executive MBA from the University of Melbourne.