AGS ANNUAL REPORT 2008–2009

CEO's review

Highlights

Provided extensive assistance for the government’s raft of legislative and policy reforms.
Worked closely with the Treasury on the government’s response to the global financial crisis.
Helped the Department of Climate Change ready the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme for introduction to the Parliament, operating as part of our client’s policy team.
Supported the Attorney-General as First Law Officer in a number of important constitutional law issues, and in extending the use of alternative dispute resolution processes across the array of Commonwealth disputes.
Assisted with the establishment of new Commonwealth bodies in the water, health and arts sectors.
Substantially increased our lawyer outposting arrangements, and our delivery of client training programs and publications to support our clients.
Successfully completed the implementation of our enterprise content management system throughout AGS.
Achieved profits of $6.81 million in a lower revenue environment, and declared a total dividend of $2.82 million to the Commonwealth.

2009 marks the tenth anniversary of AGS’s establishment as a government business enterprise. We have operated very successfully and profitably throughout this period in the face of intense competition for the government’s legal services, maintaining our position as the leading lawyers to government. Each year we have also returned a substantial dividend to the Commonwealth.

A less buoyant trading year

AGS, like most public and private sector organisations, was not immune from the effects of the economic downturn that marked this year. There was a diminution in overall revenue from our legal services in comparison with our previous nine years of revenue growth. This reduction reflected the budgetary tightness being experienced by our clients and a lowering of litigation involving the Commonwealth.

Our responses

With these influences on our revenue performance, we took action in a number of ways to reinforce the underlying strength of our business. This included a focus on retaining AGS’s significant talent – a vital factor underpinning our ability to support the government and meet the needs of our special group of clients in a changing and demanding environment.

We vigorously controlled our costs over the course of the year. We reviewed our support services and processes to gain greater efficiency and effectiveness at lower cost. We also worked hard to lower our employment costs in ways that caused as little harm as possible to our employee base and to employee morale. We achieved this through attrition, leave arrangements, redeployment, and a limited redundancy program designed in consultation with our employees and the union representing them.

As a result of these actions, while AGS’s profitability was not as strong as in the past, we traded profitably in the year and returned a dividend to government.

Thank you

AGS is a people business with a strongly embedded client service ethic – which is reflected in the collaborative way we work together and with our clients.

I thank my AGS colleagues across the country who have built AGS into the vibrant organisation it is today. Particular thanks are due to Henry Burmester AO QC, AGS’s Chief General Counsel since 1995, who retired this year after providing so many years of outstanding professional leadership. We welcome his successor in this post, Robert Orr PSM QC, who has proved himself eminently qualified to take up this leadership mantle.

I extend my thanks also to the members of the AGS Advisory Board for their valuable advice and unflagging support for AGS’s development: to John Allen, who has chaired the board since his appointment in 2000; to Richard Ryan AO and Jeffrey Browne; and to Dr Irene Kwong Moss AO, who retired from the board in April this year.

Finally, and importantly, I thank our clients, who are the focus and purpose of our business, and who have supported AGS so steadfastly over the past ten years. It is a privilege to have the opportunity of working in partnership with you to achieve your goals in the national interest.

Rayne de Gruchy AM PSM
Chief Executive Officer