spotlight on mae, 30 june 2009, page-33

relevant section from corps law:

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca2001172/s1043a.html

"the insider must not (whether as principal or agent):

(c) apply for, acquire, or dispose of, relevant Division 3 financial products, or enter into an agreement to apply for, acquire, or dispose of, relevant Division 3 financial products; or "


from a quick google search there appear to be some argument that simply exercising an option is ok (from a chartered secretaries of australia submission):

"In the case of an employee incentive plan option satisfied by the issue of new shares by the company to the executive, CSA notes that the combination of ss 1043(2)(b) and 1042G would generally be sufficient to ensure that neither the company nor the executive are in breach of insider trading provisions as the company will be deemed to possess the same information as the executive."

but then a number of company' policies on trading in company securities addresses the exercise of options, eg FMG:

"Exercise of options, participation in employee share option plans or share plans: Subject
to the insider trading provisions of the Corporations Act, directors and employees of the
Company may at any time ... "


looks like a grey area that you wouldn't want to be the test case for