Wesfarmers is one of Australia’s largest publicly-listed companies and one of the country’s largest private-sector employers, with approximately 500,000 shareholders and 200,000 employees.

As a result, both directly and indirectly, there are people in many countries with a shared interest in the sustainable future of Wesfarmers. Our capacity to continue to provide satisfactory returns to shareholders and support for the various interests of our stakeholders, including suppliers, customers, community groups and charities, government entities or public interest groups, is an important part of our sustainable operations.

Our major operating business interests in the full-year covered by this report include supermarkets, liquor and convenience stores; home improvement and office supplies; general merchandise and apparel; coal mining; insurance; industrial and safety products distribution; chemical and fertiliser manufacture; and gas production and distribution.

Key indicators of the Group’s financial performance indicators are summarised in figure 8.

Our operations make a significant contribution to the economies of Australia and New Zealand and other countries, particularly through our product-sourcing activities. These contributions included more than $7,156 million paid in salaries, wages and other benefits to our employees, dividends to our shareholders totalling $1,909 million and $1,499 million paid to governments at all levels in the form of taxes, levies and royalties.

More than 95 per cent of our revenues and earnings are derived from our Australian operations.

We are one of 20 Australian companies selected for inclusion in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for 2012. We are also included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index in the Asia Pacific region (DJSI World – Asia Pacific). DJSI is a set of five indices which evaluate the performance of companies worldwide based on voluntarily provided submissions.

The DJSI assessment (with assessments against the DJSI criteria) of Wesfarmers over the past five years is set out below in figure 9.

Wesfarmers is a strong advocate of good corporate governance.

The Wesfarmers Board has adopted a series of governance charters and policies that underpin our corporate governance framework. The Board recognises that corporate governance is not a static concept, and it regularly reviews and updates the company’s governance charters and policies by reference to corporate governance developments and best practice in Australia and overseas.

A detailed account of the governance structure and responsibilities of Wesfarmers Limited, including the role and responsibilities of the Board, can be found in the Corporate Governance Statement in the 2012 Annual Report pages 57 to 64 or on our website.

We also have a number of key corporate governance documents available on our website. Specifically, this year we have reviewed and updated our Code of Conduct for employees, our Anti-bribery Policy and our Group Whistleblower Policy.

The Code of Conduct reflects the Group’s high standards and expectations of ethical behaviour and integrity from team members.

The Group Whistleblower Policy encourages team members to raise any concerns and report instances of unethical, illegal, fraudulent or undesirable conduct, where there are reasonable grounds to suspect such conduct, without fear of intimidation, disadvantage or reprisal.

The Wesfarmers Anti-bribery Policy is also available on our website and sets out the responsibilities of our businesses and team members in observing and upholding the prohibition on bribery and related improper conduct, including providing some guidance on how to recognise and deal with instances of bribery and corruption.

Wesfarmers is committed to operating in a manner consistent with laws relating to anti-bribery and corruption. The Wesfarmers Anti-bribery Policy applies across the Group and prohibits bribery and other forms of related improper conduct such as facilitation payments, secret commissions and money laundering. The policy sets out the requirements that apply to gifts and hospitality, dealings with public and government officials, accounting and record keeping, and also identifies the controls that must be implemented when a Group company proposes to engage a third party to act for or on its behalf, such as due diligence, the use of appropriate contractual terms, and the oversight of the work undertaken by that third party.

In addition to the policy itself, the Group has developed a comprehensive compliance program in support of the policy. The compliance program involves training for relevant team members, detailed obligations in respect of gifts and entertainment, and ongoing reporting obligations to ensure compliance with the policy.

All of these documents are important in preserving the Group’s high standards of behaviour and supporting our employees in their work.

Wesfarmers and its businesses are committed to meeting the requirements of the relevant privacy legislation and/or standards in the jurisdictions in which we operate and the Code of Conduct, our Privacy Policy and relevant business unit policies and procedures support this objective.

Apart from developing and overseeing the governance processes and policies for the company, as part of its broader responsibilities the Board has also reviewed and endorsed this Sustainability Report. The Board’s Audit Committee (comprised of non-executive directors) oversees and reviews the appointment of external assurers and auditors and the company responses to any assurance commentary or findings.

A copy of our Privacy Policy, Group Whistleblower Policy, Anti-bribery Policy and Code of Conduct is available on our website under the ‘About Us’ tab at www.wesfarmers.com.au