Tattersall’s Club admits breaking rule in historic vote on accepting female members

Tattersall’s Club has acknowledged it failed to follow one of its rules in last month’s controversial vote which allowed women to join the mens-only institution in Brisbane.

Tattersall’s Club has acknowledged it failed to follow one of its rules in last month’s controversial vote which allowed women to join the men-only institution in Brisbane.

Damien O’Brien QC told a Brisbane Supreme Court this morning that the club did not abide by one of its rules which required it to pre-print member numbers on the envelopes included in postal ballots.

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But O’Brien stressed that this was just a “slight variation’’ and no members were disenfranchised from voting.

Tattersall's Club in Brisbane.

Member Paul Hogan sued club president Stuart Fraser and other members of the committee this month in a bid to overturn the vote, which was decided by just 37 votes.

He and other critics allege that many ballots were improperly not counted, including 96 in which member numbers were either not included, wrong or illegible.

Nick Ferret, QC acting for Mr Hogan, told the court that there were “substantial inconsistencies’’ which should prompt the court to intervene to nullify the vote.

He said the club rules should be viewed as a contract with members. Mr Ferrett said the club knew member names and numbers and should have pre-printed that information on ballot envelopes.

Judge Glenn Martin said he would hand down a decision in a few weeks.