Grafton Chamber of Commerce: President Natasha Hillary, vice president Justin James, executive officer Sue Redman call it quits

Tensions reached boiling point in Grafton Chamber of Commerce, leading to several people in key positions leaving the key regional business group. Here’s what we know.

Grafton Chamber of Commerce

Tensions reached boiling point in Grafton Chamber of Commerce, leading to several people in key positions leaving the key regional business group.

President Natasha Hillary said she called it quits along with vice president Justin James and executive officer Sue Redman amid debate over the not-for-profit’s direction.

Ms Hillary, who works in real estate and has been part of the chamber for five years, said all three sent resignations by email. She said a difference of opinion had arisen over the direction of the Chamber.

“We resigned because we felt like we were fighting a losing battle,” she said.

“We were trying to uphold a standard in the Chamber and we were trying to uphold the core value of the Chamber, which is business advocacy. But we had a group of executive members who wanted to transition the chamber to being more of events-based community organisation.”

The Grafton Chamber of Commerce has not responded to requests for comment.

Ms Hillary said the recent Prince Street Marketta event on May 20 was a major bone of contention.

The Prince Street Marketta. Picture: Grafton Chamber of Commerce.

“So in the end it just became too messy – it wasn’t worth it and there was a lot of tension,” she said.

Ms Hillary said she and her counterparts were not voted out of the group.

“It was announced at another community group’s meeting that (we) were sacked following a vote of no confidence which couldn’t be further from the truth,” she said.

“We couldn’t have been voted out because a meeting wasn’t even held.”

Grafton Chamber of Commerce former president Natasha Hillary and vice president Justin James.

While the Chamber did not respond to inquiries, the organisation did acknowledge the departures and thank the trio for their hard work in a recent Facebook post.

“As we look forward, the remaining members of the management team are focused on serving and advocating for the wonderful Grafton business community, which is the motivation behind everything that we do,” the post read.

“We take our role seriously, approach it with humility, and are grateful for the faith placed in us by our members who have appointed us to represent them.”

The post also stated the Chamber’s annual general meeting would be held in October – a month earlier than was previously scheduled — so new members could be appointed.

“We have a fantastic opportunity as a Chamber to reset and relaunch ourselves and we look forward to working with the amazing Grafton business community in a collaborative and inclusive manner; so as to promote, advocate for, and advance the interests of the business community as a whole,” the post read.