Melbourne Racing Club committee member John Kanga threatens Supreme Court action over disciplinary hearing ahead of club’s AGM

Rebel committee member John Kanga declared his ambition for the chairman’s role at the Melbourne Racing Club as he used the threat of a Supreme Court injunction to stave off a disciplinary meeting scheduled ahead of the club’s AGM.

Melbourne Racing Club committee member John Kanga (left) and outgoing chairman Matt Cain.

Rebel committee member John Kanga declared his ambition for the chairman’s role at the Melbourne Racing Club as he used the threat of a Supreme Court injunction to stave off a disciplinary meeting scheduled ahead of the club’s AGM.

Kanga and his fellow board members Alison Saville and Caitrin Kelly had been summoned to answer allegations they had breached the committee’s code of conduct in relation to comments made in the media.

The head of the ‘Save Our MRC’ group, Kanga last month filed a motion for a special general meeting to remove multiple committee members allegedly responsible for costly mistakes at the MRC, including the contentious new mounting yard at Caulfield.

The action has generated a groundswell of support for Kanga from MRC members and key racing participants.

In a statement this morning, Kanga claimed the disciplinary process was being used as a tool to “silence him” and “prevent him and his colleagues voting for the new MRC chairman and office bearers and prevent Kanga becoming the new chairman”.

Melbourne Racing Club board members and John Kanga supporters Alison Saville (left) and Caitrin Kelly. Picture: Supplied

Asking for the disciplinary hearing to be pushed back into October, Kanga said the MRC had conceded rather than risk being on the end of a Supreme Court injunction.

“Going forward, if the new board members vote with us and support me as chairman, we can then stop the delay of the special general meeting and move to remove the remaining board members that the MRC members want gone,” Kanga said.

“If there are any shenanigans, I will have no hesitation in taking Supreme Court action and am confident we will again prevail.”

In a statement, the MRC said the parties agreed at the Supreme Court yesterday for the disciplinary process to be delayed until October 16 to give Kanga, Saville and Kelly more time to respond to concerns raised by the committee.

“The Committee remains concerned that a series of actions from the three Executive Committee members may have breached the code of conduct,” the MRC statement said.

“The code of conduct has been accepted by all committee members and was established to ensure the highest standards and proper conduct at the committee level are followed. No determination has been made at this stage and the relevant individuals have been invited to respond to those concerns, as is appropriate.

“We are committed to maintaining the highest standards of governance at the club. At the same time, the Melbourne Racing Club Committee has at all stages of the process made every effort to resolve the issues raised amicably between the parties having regard to the best interests of members

“It is unfortunate that some parties are more interested in scoring points through the media than ensuring the success of the MRC and the upcoming racing carnival.”

Tonight’s Melbourne Racing Club AGM, to begin at 6pm, will see two new committee members appointed to replace outgoing chair Matt Cain and committee member Mark Pratt. Two committee members will also be appointed to the Mornington Advisory Group.

'THE BOARD WAS UNWILLING TO ADMIT THEY GOT IT WRONG'

He ‘would prefer to be an unknown’, but John Kanga says tells @BradWWaters he was forced to push for a board spill at the @MelbRacingClub when member concerns were ignored despite ‘months’ of behind-the-scenes lobbying. 👇… pic.twitter.com/sFgMD4la5E

— Racenet (@RacenetTweets) August 30, 2024

Cain indicated all parties would be “pretty happy” with the election results as he called for peace and a renewed focus on members as opposed to board politics.

“The calibre of the candidates being so good, I think everyone should be pretty happy with the representation they should have on the board going forward,” he said.

“As the outgoing chair I look forward to presenting a stellar set of financial results the club has achieved for FY24 with a record membership over 14,000.

“The voice of the members through the election and their feedback has not gone unheard.

“The new committee will meet during and after the carnival to strategically review members feedback and the important decisions we have made and come back to members with a revised position or a revised timetable on how that works.”

The contentious new mounting yard at Caulfield. Picture: Vince Caligiuri / Getty Images

Cain said the club had always listened to participants and taken on feedback on the development of the club’s premier track, Caulfield.

“The emphasis on the industry participants needs to refocus on the members and what the members’ footprint of Phase 2 of our new Grand Pavilion and new members’ area looks like,” he said.

“That should be the focused intent of the new committee, the members’ areas attached to any new grandstand redevelopment or renovation, new members’ bar, need to be absolutely fit for purpose into the foreseeable future.”

Originally published as Melbourne Racing Club committee member John Kanga threatens Supreme Court action over disciplinary hearing ahead of club’s AGM