Gray on 'Corporations and their Contributions to Public Debates'

 Professor Anthony Gray of the USQ School of Law and Justice has published a new article titled 'Corporations and their Contributions to Public Debates'.  The article appears in Volume 36(1) of the Australian Journal of Corporate Law.  Here is the abstract:

"Corporations are increasingly contributing to controversial public debates. This raises important questions regarding the purpose of a corporation, where a range of views have been expressed, including the shareholder primacy theory, stakeholder primacy theory, communitarian notions, and concepts of corporate social responsibility. This article argues that there are real questions surrounding the legitimacy of such contributions. It also considers directors’ legal responsibilities under the Corporations Act, and considers arguments that directors may be in breach of these obligations by devoting company resources in pursuit of social ends. It also considers arguments that corporations have a protected freedom to contribute to political discussion, before concluding that if parliament so wished, it could legislate to make it clear that corporations are, or are not, legally entitled to devote resources towards the pursuit of non-profit objectives, including social causes. In the absence of such clarification, there are significant legal doubts over the efficacy of such behaviour."