CHOICE voting member briefings 2024

Welcome to our October Briefing from the Board. 

Before diving into details of our recent meeting, we want to update you on our ongoing work regarding supermarkets. 

We’re pleased to report that we’ve completed two Government-funded supermarket surveys this year as part of a three-year series of quarterly surveys. The most recent was published on 26 September, along with further details about our methodology. 

Many of you will know we have been focused on supermarkets for some time:

• In November 2023, we gave Coles and Woolworths a Shonky Award for posting huge profits during a cost-of-living crisis.
• In December 2023, following a CHOICE complaint to the ACCC, Coles refunded thousands of consumers for raising “dropped and locked” prices before the promotional period ended.
• In 2024, we released nationally representative research showing that, on average, 1 in 4 people find it difficult to tell if certain supermarket specials represent a real discount.

Supermarkets have also been under increased scrutiny by the ACCC. In late September, the ACCC announced legal action against Coles and Woolworths, alleging misleading discount claims. The regulator also released the interim report of its supermarket inquiry. Notably, one of its “preliminary views” is that better access to pricing data is needed. We agree! Our CEO, Ashley de Silva, and Director of Campaigns and Communications, Rosie Thomas, have been asked by the ACCC to represent CHOICE members and supporters at its inquiry in November.

Now, moving onto the highlights of our 30 September Board meeting, which covered:

• Our operations and performance in the financial year to date
• Our audited financial statements for 2023–24
• Technology update
• Plans for the AGM

Update on CHOICE operations and performance

Total revenue for the year to date (as of August) is ahead of budget, driven by positive membership results, our test research and the commencement of a two-year contract with the ACT Government to support the test data in their ‘Make your next choice electric‘ online tool. Membership revenue has been bolstered by higher-than-expected subscriber numbers, which are 2.55% ahead of budget for August and 1.84% above budget year to date. 

Although total traffic was 4.99% below target in August, our acquisition strategies have performed well, coming in 3.8% ahead of budget. This has been helped by a stronger-than-anticipated end of financial year sales period. Challenges in the CHOICE Recommended program remain a key focus for management. As the program approaches its 15-year anniversary, a performance review is scheduled for 2025 to ensure we are capitalising on opportunities to adapt and evolve.

Following the organisational redesign and the departure of 20 team members in July and August, the CHOICE team has been adjusting to the new structure. We recognise that change can be difficult, and reshaping processes and priorities takes time. The Board is grateful for the dedication and hard work of the entire CHOICE team during this period of transition.

Audited financial statements for 2023–24

We received a report from our independent auditor, along with the audited financial statement for 2023–24. We are pleased to report that it was a clean audit, with the auditor identifying no significant issues in financial reporting or controls. 

The result reflects an unusual year for CHOICE. As foreshadowed in our recent briefings, the last financial year included the beginning of a deliberate multi-year investment in our technology upgrade program, and an organisational redesign that will create a more sustainable cost base for CHOICE. However, this also involved significant costs relating to redundancies. These drivers, together with a softer performance in CHOICE Recommended, resulted in a deficit of $2.68m. 

Both the organisational redesign and the investment in our technology are critical parts of CHOICE’s new strategy, which will ensure we are on strong footing for our next chapter. The Board has been purposeful in our decisions, ensuring we can pursue these initiatives in line with our cash reserves policy. 

This year was also the first year our independent auditor was required to audit ACA Insight, which is a new subsidiary of CHOICE. ACA Insight is authorised to provide general financial product advice in relation to general insurance products. ASIC issues these licences and establishing ACA Insight was a critical step in allowing us to provide insurance recommendations to our members, something we re-commenced in April 2024. As the parent company of ACA Insight, we were pleased to note the clean audit for ACA Insight and issued a letter of support to its Directors confirming ACA’s capacity to pay its debts as and when they fall due.

We will provide you with more detailed information on our performance across a number of areas in the Annual Review we prepare ahead of the Annual General Meeting in November. The Chair of our Finance, Risk and Audit Committee, Samantha Challinor, will present the statements at the AGM and take any questions you may have.

Technology update

We were able to celebrate a milestone in our technology upgrade in September with the first phase of a transition to a new CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system now complete. The second phase of this work is already underway, as is the scoping for a shift to a new CMS (Content Management System) following the reset of this work last year. The scale of technology upgrade is considerable and a key part of our new strategy. Not only do we expect it to deliver more-efficient operations, it’ll also be crucial to modernising how we deliver our service for members and supporters. We will keep you updated on the work as more progress is made.

Annual General Meeting

We approved the notice of the Annual General Meeting, which you will receive shortly.

The meeting will be held on 26 November in Sydney. We’ll also webcast for members across the country so you can join in, vote and ask questions. 

We also approved one special resolution for you to consider at this year’s AGM:

• Changes to our constitution: This year, we’re proposing an update to the CHOICE constitution to allow for fully virtual AGMs. This change aligns with what many organisations have adopted since the impact of COVID-19, and provides flexibility for how AGMs are run in the future, when we have ever-decreasing numbers of in-person attendees.

The notice of AGM will include an explanatory note with more information about the proposed resolution, but in the meantime please feel free to email Sarah Coombs, our Company Secretary, if you have any questions. As with previous years, we’ll be holding a forum for voting members immediately before the AGM, with presentations from staff and the opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback. We hope you can join us at the AGM, either in person or virtually.

As always, thank you for your ongoing support for CHOICE’s work. We’ll meet in person again in November and will be back in touch after that. Please feel free to email us with any comments or suggestions on any of the matters raised in this briefing.

Welcome to our August briefing from the Board, and the first for the new financial year. 

As a Board, it’s always useful to take time to step back and reflect. One key observation from our last financial year is how lucky we are to have such a dedicated, hard-working team at CHOICE. Through significant changes and a tough economic outlook, there’s been no shortage of challenge and change they’ve had to navigate. As we’ve come to expect, they have continued to deliver their best work for consumers. We’re also thankful to you, our members, for your continued support and engagement in all we do.

The 30 July Board Meeting agenda focused on: 

• Results for 2023–24
• Governance matters
• Annual general meeting and election process

Results for 2023–24

We considered a range of reports on CHOICE’s performance against goals over the past financial year.

We’re pleased to report the number of paid memberships was 1.12% higher than budgeted with 197,238 members. Although slightly down on the prior year, this result reflects a sound budgeting approach that acknowledged the impact of today’s more challenging economic conditions. We understand that when people spend less on household appliances, they are less inclined to invest in a CHOICE membership, and we set the budget accordingly.

CHOICE achieved some positive results in 2023–24, including:

• Qantas abandoning the expiry date for COVID travel credits and allowing customers to request a refund, indefinitely. This followed a 2022 Shonky Award for Qantas and an ACCC complaint about their practices.
• CHOICE and other consumer and small business advocates will be able to make ‘super complaints’ to the ACCC to highlight systemic consumer problems.
• First Nations consumers needing to bury loved ones formerly covered by Youpla/ACBF funeral policies will have access to an enduring Youpla Support Program (with CHOICE supporting First Nations voices to achieve this).
• an increase in traffic to choice.com.au as members and other consumers continued to make use of the range of information we produced on cost of living issues.

In this meeting, we also reviewed preliminary financial reports ahead of our audit, which is now underway. Despite the strong result from our membership, a decline in CHOICE Recommended revenue contributed to an overall FY24 result that was lower than budgeted. (We touched on the challenges of last year’s CHOICE Recommended result in our July briefing – link at bottom of this page – and also some of the necessary changes we’re making to ensure sustainable operations for the years ahead.)

The management team made a range of savings to operating expenditure during the past year to offset the decline in revenue. However, the planned exceptional costs from our reserves, like those linked to redundancies and the significant technology upgrade, will result in a deficit for the year. The final position will be confirmed and reported when our audit is complete.

As always, we will report in more detail on achievements across a range of areas in the Annual Review that we produce in the lead up to our AGM.

Governance matters

As a Board we regularly review and consider a range of governance-related matters. This is especially the case at the end of each financial year. In this meeting we made decisions regarding everything from our reserves policy to lease negotiations for part of our Marrickville premises, and our whistleblower policy. We also reviewed the enterprise risk register and our annual summary of compliance requirements.

A key discussion point was the recent settlement with Goldair. Some of you would recall this has been an open topic for the past year or so. Matters like these are very rare for CHOICE, and the Board was pleased to have reached an agreement that was broadly along the lines of previous discussions.

Annual general meeting and election process

We made a number of decisions on the process for this year’s AGM and Board election.

The AGM will be held at 6pm on 26 November at the CHOICE building in Marrickville, with the opportunity to attend virtually. You will be invited to register to attend via the Notice of AGM, which will be sent in early November.

There are three positions on the Board up for election this year, with two current directors intending to stand for re-election. Having completed an audit of the skills on the Board, we have identified the following areas as priorities for members to consider in the process:

• High-level financial strategy, oversight and financial risk management: Skills commensurate with the scale of CHOICE’s operations, and the financial strategy and controls that this requires.
• Policy, campaigning and/or not-for-profit: Demonstrated skills in consumer policy, campaigning and/or experience in relevant not-for-profit organisations, along with strong political acumen.
• Entrepreneurial and commercial: Experience in developing and investing in membership or subscription-based business models, innovation and new business development.
• Digital content, products and services: Skills and experience in growing new and existing products and audiences for digital channels.
• Technology: Experience in leading technology strategy and delivery to support digital products and services and/or overseeing major technological changes. Ideally at a senior level in a number of medium to large organisations.

While it’s not expected that candidates demonstrate depth in all five of these areas, it is necessary to satisfy a range of core requirements, including governance experience and alignment with the CHOICE purpose and values. If you have skills in one of the areas listed above and are interested in running for the Board, please contact our Company Secretary Sarah Coombs for more information.

You should have already received a preliminary notice of AGM. Closer to the date, you will receive a formal notice, as well as information on how to vote if we require an election. Any questions about the process can be directed to the Company Secretary.

Thank you for your ongoing support for CHOICE’s work. We’ll next meet in late September and will be back in touch after that. As always, please feel free to email us with any comments or suggestions on any of the matters raised in this briefing.

Welcome to our July briefing from the Board. This year we split our scheduled May meeting into two shorter parts, which we held on 30 May and 25 June 2024. As we mentioned in our last briefing, we’ve been very focused on finalising a new strategy for CHOICE. This briefing includes some details of what the new strategy will focus on, and we’ll provide a fuller update on it later this year. 

The May 2024 Board meeting agenda covered:

• organisational performance 
• our effectiveness as a Board 
• preparing for the next Board election. 

The June 2024 Board meeting agenda covered:

• the new three-year strategy 
• aligning our operating model to the strategy and financial sustainability targets
• approving the FY25 budget.

Organisational performance: April and May 2024

We’ve had several wins for consumers recently. The federal government has made a new toppling furniture information standard to increase awareness of the dangers of toppling furniture. The government has also confirmed it will introduce legislation to require banks, telcos, and social media, search and messaging platforms to do more to protect consumers from scams. 

New vehicle Fuel Efficiency Standards have also passed into law. This has been a long-term CHOICE advocacy goal, and means that Australian consumers should pay less for fuel and have more choices for cars, including electric vehicles. 

In terms of financial performance, our major revenue line – membership – held up well thanks to the support of loyal members like you and the hard work of the CHOICE team. May was the fourth consecutive month where paid membership numbers have delivered above target. This is a wonderful result especially given lower levels of consumer confidence at this time.

Despite these positive outcomes, we continue to have some challenges, especially for our CHOICE Recommended licensing scheme. This was in part because several test categories did not result in a ‘Best Brand’ winner. Although this impacts our commercial outcomes, we see it as a healthy show of our principles and independence in action: we will not licence our brand to a product unless it’s backed by strong results. Like other organisations, we’re also seeing the effects of cost-of-living pressures not only on members, but also on brands whose budgets to promote their products – even those awarded Best Brand status – have reduced.

Board effectiveness 

To help evaluate the Board’s performance, we recently ran a Board effectiveness survey with all CHOICE Directors. This provided in-depth views on what’s working well day-to-day and where we could focus our efforts to ensure continuous improvement. 

Overall, it was pleasing to see broad alignment from Directors as to how the Board operates and what works well. But it was also useful to reflect on where to direct more attention; suggestions included ensuring the Board has more time to discuss strategic issues, increasing the visibility of potential risks, and changes to management reporting.

The upcoming Board election

Prior to each Board election, we identify the skills most important to CHOICE’s next phase. We assess Board members’ skills against these and anticipate any changes from the next election, such as Directors concluding their term. This ensures we are clear on the Board’s composite strengths and any skills gaps we need to address in the Board election process. Information on how to nominate for the Board election and how to vote will be shared ahead of this year’s election, which is scheduled for November.

Aligning our operating model and financial sustainability targets to our new three-year strategy

As mentioned in the previous briefing, our new strategy must guide CHOICE through several areas of challenge, especially in relation to our financial position and digital transformation. 

Our financial independence is rare in the not-for-profit community and something we’re very proud of and grateful to have. After all, it goes to the heart of our ability to faithfully serve our members with trustworthy advice, as we’ve done for 65 years. But as we’ve shared before, our predominantly subscription-driven model is not immune from the impact of inflation and other cost pressures. 

Facing this reality, our new strategy will include a focus on CHOICE’s financial sustainability. In particular, it will include targets for the net financial result of our operations, as this is a good measure of the overall sustainability of our model.

To inform this focus of the new strategy, management has comprehensively reviewed our operations to ensure our cost base is sustainable and in line with future revenue projections. Unfortunately, the outcomes of this will require us to reduce the size of our team. This is never an easy decision, especially given the impact it will have on our dedicated and talented team members. As you’d expect from CHOICE, we’ll do all we can to support management and the team through this change over the coming months.

The strategy process reinforced our commitment to using our reserves to invest in CHOICE’s future and ongoing innovation. These days, most members primarily engage with CHOICE digitally and we’ve set an ambitious path to modernise the digital processes and systems we use. We know that this investment will be critical in keeping up in a fast-moving digital landscape and creating future offerings. This will be an 18-month program of work and a key component of the new strategy. It’s also an example of our commitment to investing and innovating to ensure we are here to deliver for the next 65 years. 

We look forward to sharing more information on the new strategy a little later this year.

Approval of our budget for next year

As the June meeting was the final Board meeting of the financial year, we were required to approve a budget for 2024–25. 

As we’ve explained before, CHOICE has built up a financial position that allows us to withstand the occasional deficit because, as a not-for-profit organisation, we tend to go through cycles of surpluses and deficits in order to ensure that our cash reserves remain at an appropriate level. Although this has been possible in recent years, the Board recognised this was not a trend we could maintain. 

As we set out on a new three-year strategy, we anticipate a small surplus from our operating activities next year and in subsequent years, even though next year’s statutory result will be a deficit because of our investment in the technology upgrade.

We have planned for membership revenue to continue to decline slightly next year, given that cost-of-living pressures are not likely to abate. We have again decided not to increase membership prices for existing members next year; however, we have budgeted for some expenses to increase. These include salary increases and the non-recurring investments in technology. 

The Board will continue to work closely with management to monitor financial performance over the next year. 

As always, thank you for your ongoing support for CHOICE’s work. We’ll meet in person in late July and will be back in touch after that. Please feel free to email us with any comments or suggestions on any of the matters raised in this briefing.

It is a time of renewal and new beginnings at CHOICE – a new year, a new strategy and a new CEO. 

To celebrate 2024 being a leap year, we held the first Board meeting of the year on 29 February. We’ve also had two workshops to develop the new three-year strategy for CHOICE, and we welcomed our new CEO Ashley de Silva on 11 March. It is an exciting time for CHOICE and to be on the Board.

The Board met at the CHOICE offices in Marrickville on 29 February, and for the first time in what feels like a very long time we had all the non-executive directors and all of the management team in the Boardroom face to face. We were also lucky enough to have Ashley attend as an observer to help with his onboarding into the CEO role.

The 29 February meeting was split into a half-day workshop on the development of the new strategy (read below), and a half-day formal Board meeting. The Board meeting agenda focused on:

• organisational performance 
• the return of online insurance reviews
• our new Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan
• Board elections, succession planning and sub-committee composition.

Organisational performance

In late January, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced funding for CHOICE to carry out our grocery basket pricing survey every quarter in an effort to help hold the supermarkets accountable and keep pricing transparent for consumers during a period of high cost-of-living pressures. This new funding builds on our existing expertise in grocery basket surveys, enabling us to do it more frequently, which is a great outcome for consumers and for the organisation. 

In terms of financial performance, the Board and management continue to keep a close eye on how we’re tracking, given the challenges in the current economy and cost-of-living pressures. In total revenue terms, we are still $500,000 short of where we had budgeted to be at this point in the year. Although membership performed relatively well during our peak Boxing Day/January sale period, CHOICE Recommended is significantly behind target.

We also heard from management about how the implementation of the Technology Strategy (Evolve ’27) was progressing. It is still in the ‘set-up’ phase but we are confident management has learned the lessons of the CMS project and we will be maintaining tight oversight of the program of work through our temporary Technology Sub-Committee, which has been set up specifically to govern and support delivery of this critical program of work.

Sadly, as part of the introduction of a new operating model under Evolve ’27, a number of digital roles were made redundant and we farewelled our colleagues in late February.

Online insurance reviews 

We also approved the business case for the relaunch of our general insurance reviews this month. 

Towards the end of last year, ASIC granted an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) to ACA Insight, a newly formed subsidiary of CHOICE that allows us to publish the reviews again. In 2020 we were asked by ASIC to modify our insurance reviews until we had an AFSL and so, happily, now we will be offering insurance reviews again from April. 

Management presented the plan of action, risks and opportunities, as well as the governance of the subsidiary, to make sure we are meeting all our obligations to ASIC.

Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan

We were also delighted to endorse the new Innovation Reconciliation Action Plan, which was put together by a group of committed staff. 

Reconciliation Action Plans (RAPs) have enabled organisations to sustainably and strategically take meaningful action to advance reconciliation. Based around the core pillars of relationships, respect and opportunities, RAPs provide tangible and substantive benefits for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, increasing economic equity and supporting First Nations self-determination.

The four RAP types – Reflect, Innovate, Stretch and Elevate – allow organisations to continuously develop their reconciliation commitments.

Our first Reflect RAP involved scoping and developing relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stakeholders, deciding on CHOICE’s vision for reconciliation, and exploring our sphere of influence before committing to certain actions and deliverables. CHOICE completed the Reflect RAP in 2023.

Our new, second plan – the Innovate RAP – extends over two years and focuses on implementing our vision for reconciliation. This means we will continue to build on our efforts and pre-established relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in order to deepen the impact we can have.

The team also asked that the Board appoint a RAP ‘champion’ to be the voice of the RAP in Board discussions, and Amanda Robbins agreed to take on that role.

Board governance matters

We also dealt with a number of governance matters at this meeting, including the very important decision to re-appointment us (Anita Tang and Nic Cola) as co-chairs for another term, Sarah Coombs as the Company Secretary, and Alana O’Sullivan as the Assistant Company Secretary.

With the appointment of Melissa King at the last AGM, we also reviewed the current Board Sub-Committee compositions to make the most of Melissa’s considerable experience. She will be joining the Governance, Culture & Ethics Committee and the Membership Growth & Engagement Committee with immediate effect.

Strategy development

We spent the first half of the day in a strategy workshop discussing our vision for the organisation’s future and the key challenges and opportunities facing us. And then a few weeks ago, we held an offsite with management to establish some strategic options and directions to address the challenges and make the most of our opportunities.

Our new three-year strategy will be in place later this year – likely between August and September. As foreshadowed in previous briefings, there are some significant issues we need to address to ensure that we are in the best shape possible to deliver our purpose for another 60 years. The last five years have been challenging, not just for CHOICE but for everyone; with the impact of COVID, global events, the fast-moving digital and consumer landscape, and the current inflation crisis. For CHOICE, our new strategy needs to enable us to continue creating benefits for consumers, and being the kind of organisation that the best and brightest want to work for, while also diversifying our offerings and revenue, so we can continue our work in ensuring that markets are fair, just and safe for consumers.

We will have more information as the strategy develops, particularly after the May and July meetings.

As always, please feel free to email us with any comments or suggestions on any of the matters raised in this briefing.

First of all, happy new year and our best wishes for 2024. We hope you enjoyed – or are still enjoying – your break and spending some time with friends and family. And for those impacted by the recent floods and extreme weather, we wish you all the best for a speedy bounce back.

Ordinarily we try to get the briefing about the November Board meeting to you before Christmas. We decided to hold off till now so we could share with you the great news that the Board has appointed a new chief executive officer, Ashley de Silva, who will be joining us on 11 March 2024. 

Ashley has been in senior roles at ReachOut, an online mental health service for young people, since 2015. He joined as Director of Marketing and Communications, then progressed to Deputy CEO, and has been CEO for the past 5 years. Through these roles, Ashley has led on partnerships and stakeholder engagement (including at the federal political level) and has experience in media engagement.

Similar to CHOICE, ReachOut has multiple functions, and more than 70 staff are spread across product design and technology, impact and research, government relations, communications, fundraising and marketing. 

Ashley brings leadership experience in a for-purpose setting that includes the need for financial sustainability and digital capability, while achieving systems change and meeting the needs of constituents. In addition, he holds an MBA and a Masters in Organisational Development and Change.

We look forward to having you meet Ashley through future communications and are very excited to have him join the CHOICE family. 

We’d like to particularly acknowledge and thank Ian Morgan who has been acting CEO since Alan Kirkland’s departure, leading the organisation through the especially busy final months of 2023 (as you will glean from the Board briefing below).

The Board met for the final time in 2023 at the CHOICE offices in Marrickville on 27 November. Our agenda included:

• Organisational performance
• Technology Strategy and content management system update
• Financial sustainability.

It was a short agenda for the formal Board meeting, but a packed day as we held a strategy workshop with management in the morning and conducted a number of CEO candidate interviews.

And if you were one of the 70-plus voting members who joined us in person or online for our Consumer Forum and AGM the following evening, thank you! It was a genuine pleasure to meet some of you in person and connect with those who had dialled in from across the country. We have included some more information on the Consumer Forum and AGM at the end of this briefing. 

Organisational performance

We reviewed the October results, and while revenue is still below budget year-to-date, the October result was on target – thanks largely to Test Research having a bumper month. Pleasingly, traffic to the website was strong, despite the lower-than-expected membership numbers, which shows our audiences still find our content useful, valuable and engaging.

Since the Board meeting we have had both Black Friday and Boxing Day sales, which are traditionally strong events for new member sign-ups. It is too early to report on our performance just yet, but we should be able to let you know how we went in our March briefing.

The Shonky Awards in early November were, as usual, an audience, media and impact highlight. The Shonky we gave Coles and Woolworths (supported by an ACCC complaint about misleading ‘specials’) attracted particular attention. Following this, more than 10,000 supporters sent us information about confusing or misleading supermarket specials. We have passed the further information to the ACCC.

Technology Strategy & CMS update

As many of you will be aware, we have struggled to deliver a key technology project (the new content management system, or CMS). This prompted the Board to ask management to prepare a comprehensive Technology Strategy that would help the organisation a) improve its technological infrastructure, and b) build organisational capability and operational efficiency.

In order for CHOICE to attract audiences online and meet the needs of modern consumers, we need to invest in our technology capability. It is challenging for a small organisation to keep up with large media companies and digitally native start-ups, but it is vital we make these investments so our staff are freed up to do their best work on behalf of members and consumers, rather than having to use their time and talents wrestling with out-of-date, inefficient and restrictive tech.

To that end, management has been working with an external partner to develop a comprehensive strategy that outlines the investment in time and money that will be required to ensure our technology serves our current and future needs. 

The new strategy lays out a program of work, detailing the major platform projects that will be needed in the next three to five years, and the capabilities required to deliver each. As a consequence of taking the time to step back and holistically review our technology and data roadmap, the CMS project has been paused and a new roadmap prepared.

The strategy and roadmap that was presented to the Board for approval will require several million dollars and 15 to 24 months to implement.

The Board approved the strategy, the investment and the organisational changes that go with it, on the condition that there was tight governance of the program with regular reports to the Board and its Technology Committee, and that the investment be deployed in tranches dependent on deliverables and timelines being met.

The Board also asked that management aim for delivery in under 24 months to reduce the costs.

Financial sustainability

Of course, none of these issues are happening in isolation and the Board spent some time discussing the intersection and relationship between the threads of: the need to invest significantly in technology and our delivery capability; lower-than-expected membership revenue; a growing cost base; and an uncertain economic outlook. The combination of these trends present substantial challenges to the future of CHOICE. 

Financially, current revenue and spending trends are not sustainable for CHOICE over the long term and we need to address this as part of our new Strategy 24–27. We are about a third of the way through the process of developing the new strategy, and it will be finalised in the next few months with our new CEO Ashley and the management team.

The Board discussed the need for management to be prudent with the organisation’s expenses for the remainder of the financial year and look to make savings where possible, while balancing this with the need to continue to fulfil our purpose and deliver the final year of the current strategy.

Consumer Forum and AGM

For the first time in a long while, we held the Consumer Forum and AGM at the CHOICE offices in Marrickville. It was great to welcome a number of voting members in person into our “home”.

Ahead of the AGM, we ran a Consumer Forum where staff presented their great work on current issues to get feedback and to provoke conversation with our most important and valued stakeholders – you, our voting members.

This year, the team covered:

1. Our Insurance in a changing climate report 
2. The new Sustainable Living prototype
3. The 2023 Shonkys

There was stimulating conversation afterwards, and a number of questions and suggestions will inform our work over this coming year.

The Consumer Forum was followed by our formal annual general meeting, which included:

• reports on progress against our strategy by our Co-Chairs 
• a presentation by our interim CEO on the need for constant change and strategic flexibility
• a report on our financial results by the Chair of our Finance, Risk and Audit Committee, Samantha Challinor.

Our Company Secretary Sarah Coombs announced the results of the Board election, which saw Fiona Jolly and Kat George re-elected and Melissa King appointed to replace the departing Alexandra Kelly. We welcome Melissa and thank Alex for all her support and trusted advice over the years.

If you attended the meeting either in person or online, we would welcome any feedback. Please email us at anitaandnic@choice.com.au.

Special meeting

Finally, we wanted to let you know that the Board held a special meeting on 4 December to discuss the ongoing litigation with heater manufacturer Goldair. As the matter is still before the Court we will not say too much, other than to reassure you that the Board and management are always guided by our purpose and values. 

We expect the matter to go to trial later this year. We’ll do our best to keep members updated on how this matter progresses, although there may naturally be some limitations on how much detail we can share.

We’ll be back in touch in March with an update on our first Board meeting of 2024. In the meantime, thank you for your support during 2023. This year promises to be a big one for CHOICE and we look forward to your ongoing support.

As always, please feel free to email us with any comments or suggestions on any of the matters raised in this briefing.

Briefing from the Board: December 2024

Welcome to our final briefing for 2024.

Thank you to all the voting members who joined us for our Consumer Forum and AGM on 26 November. It was wonderful to see participation from all parts of the country. We’ve included more details about the Consumer Forum and AGM at the end of this briefing.

The questions, comments, and insights shared by members are always valuable. If you’ve not joined us for an AGM before or voted in the CHOICE Board elections, we encourage you to take part next year. 

The Board met for the final time this year at the CHOICE offices in Marrickville on the day before the AGM. Our agenda included:

• Organisational performance to October
• An update on the Evolve27 technology program
• Priorities for the first six months of 2025

Organisational performance to October

We’re pleased to report membership is performing well, exceeding our target by 3.93% and surpassing 200,000 members for the first time since July 2023. This growth was driven by excellent acquisition performance (21.34% above target) and solid retention (1.04% above target).

While membership is trending up, we are yet to see CHOICE Recommended have the same uplift, in part because brands continue to reduce marketing budgets. Management has confirmed it will undertake a review of our licensing approach next year, allowing us to look holistically at opportunities and challenges in this space. It’s been some time since we’ve put a focus on this part of CHOICE and we look forward to sharing insights with you once the work is complete.

Campaign actions and media activity have also been strong this year. Recent highlights included our work on connected cars, a focus on supermarket prices in remote First Nations communities and the poor safety results from products bought online at Temu. The Shonky Awards in mid-November were another highlight. As is the case every year, many of our members provide ideas and tip-offs that shape this annual event. We’re already thinking about how to mark 20 years of Shonkys in 2025!

We continue to run surveys with our team to track the pulse of the organisation following the significant organisational redesign work in July and August. The results are encouraging, with improvements noted in scores related to the new strategy and adjustments following the organisational redesign. That said, after such a significant change there remain areas requiring continued focus, and work is underway with the Executive Team and wider leadership group to address these. 

Update on Evolve27 Technology Program

The Board received an update on Evolve27, our ambitious technology program that represents a significant investment in the future of our organisation and a key pillar of our strategy. As the most complex technology initiative we’ve undertaken in over a decade, Evolve27 is progressing well with some encouraging milestones already achieved.

Working closely with our implementation partner, we successfully migrated key components of our Customer Relationship Management system from Salesforce to Dynamics. This transition not only prepares us for more streamlined operations via connected Microsoft offerings over time, but has also delivered savings of $200,000 in fees.

Another development is the ongoing implementation of our new Human Resources Information System, Employment Hero. This project will integrate our HR and payroll systems, reducing duplication of effort and enabling smoother processes. Additionally, it will lead to annual savings of more than $30,000 in annual licensing fees.

Addressing the challenges we faced with our previous Content Management System (CMS) is another crucial aspect of Evolve27. After gathering detailed business requirements, we’ve selected WordPress VIP as our new CMS platform. The work to validate clear requirements reflects the lessons learned from past experiences, and the team is committed to ensuring a smoother implementation process.

As we advance, we are taking steps to further strengthen the management of this multifaceted program. With multiple work streams now active, the team has identified opportunities to enhance planning, scheduling, and project management. To support this, we are collaborating with the Technology Committee to engage a senior Program Manager who will provide additional oversight, and an external vendor to refine our scheduling processes. These enhancements are designed to ensure that the program continues to deliver on its objectives effectively.

The Board will continue to monitor Evolve27 closely and we look forward to providing further updates as we achieve additional milestones.

Priorities for the next six months

At this meeting, the Board considered the organisation’s high-level priorities for the first six months of 2025. These priorities are designed to ensure we’re continuing to build strong foundations for the future, aligned with our strategy.

A key focus will be strengthening organisational foundations, particularly through the continued delivery of our Evolve27 technology program. Alongside this, we’ll be reviewing how we plan, prioritise and deliver work across CHOICE. This will involve aligning our capabilities and resources to seize the most significant opportunities available to us.

As part of this focus, we’ll also be investing in a development program for our broader leadership team, providing the tools and support to help them lead effectively. In addition, we’ll take time to reflect on our organisational values and culture, ensuring they continue to underpin everything we do.

Another area of attention will be our Marrickville property. As one of CHOICE’s most valuable assets, management has initiated a review to ensure it is being utilised to its full potential. The Board will engage with this process to consider how the property can best support our long-term goals.

Consumer Forum and AGM 

We began proceedings with the Consumer Forum – a chance for CHOICE staff to share updates on key projects and invite feedback and questions from our members. This year’s presentations included:

• Insights from our quarterly CHOICE supermarket surveys
• Reflections on ten years of Consumer Pulse, the research that drives many of our campaigns and insights
• An exploration of the lifecycle of a scam

The Consumer Forum was followed by our formal AGM. The agenda included updates on progress against our strategy, a presentation from our CEO, and a financial report from Samantha Challinor, Chair of our Finance, Risk and Audit Committee.

During the meeting, our Company Secretary Sarah Coombs announced the results of the Board election. Samantha Challinor and Jamie Pride were re-elected, and Chris Whitehead was elected to the position previously held by Fiona Guthrie.

This year, members also voted on a proposed amendment to the CHOICE charter to allow for entirely virtual AGMs. The resolution did not pass, meaning the constitution will continue to support in-person and hybrid AGM formats. To ensure the broadest possible participation, we remain committed to hosting events with an online component so that voting members from across the country can participate.

If you joined us at the meeting, either in person or online, we’d love to hear your feedback. Please feel free to email us at anitaandnic@choice.com.au.

As this is our final Board briefing for 2024, we want to thank you for your ongoing support. CHOICE would not exist without the contributions of our members. We’re especially grateful for the loyalty and engagement from our voting members – thank you.

We’ll return in March with an update from the first Board meeting of 2025. Until then, we wish you a safe and happy summer. As always, please feel free to email us with any comments or suggestions.

Regards,

CHOICE has been championing your consumer rights since 1959. Fiercely independent and proudly non-profit, your membership makes this possible. You can further support CHOICE by making a donation today or consider leaving a bequest.

See the 2025 Board member briefings

See the 2023 Board member briefings.

See the 2022 Board member briefings.

See the 2021 Board member briefings.