Sydney’s Club favours locking out women, survey found

The Australian Club is likely to remain a bastion of male exclusivity, with just half of members indicating they would consider allowing women to join.

The Australian Club in Sydney's 'All Day Dining Club'.

A confidential survey of the Australian Club’s members undertaken in 2018 found just 55 per cent would be “prepared to consider the issue of women members in the foreseeable future”.

Members of the 183-year-old Sydney institution will on Tuesday vote on whether to allow women to join – a change that requires 75 per cent support and is widely expected to fail.

The issue has divided the club – which counts among its membership former prime ministers John Howard and Malcolm Turnbull – with senior judicial and corporate figures lining up on either side of the debate.

The Australian on Thursday reported a push against having women members was being led by former Federal Court judge Peter Graham, who circulated a letter in which he said only a small number of members had wanted to discuss the issue.

However, the 2018 members’ survey – obtained by The Australian – concludes: “Approximately 55 per cent of members indicated they would be prepared to consider the issue of women members in the foreseeable future.”

Regardless of the outcome of the Tuesday vote, which has been brought on by opponents of female membership in a bid to end the discussion, it is unlikely the issue will fade away.

The Australian Club has now engaged market research company The Navigators and asked the organisation’s auditors, Deloitte, to oversee a second survey about allowing women to join.

That proposal is known as “The Desirability or Otherwise of Women Being Entitled to Membership of the Club”.

Those pushing for women to be admitted as members at the Australian Club include retired Supreme Court judge Michael Pembroke and former Credit Suisse banker David Kent. Picture: Monique Harmer

“The proposal presents a significant and complex matter for the club to explore,” the Australian Club’s president, John Stanham, wrote to members in May.

“It is important that decisions are based on reliable and relevant member insights, hence the importance of consulting broadly with members on this matter … For clarity, this simple survey seeks your response on the proposal only, rather than the substantive matter of female members, at this point.”

Mr Graham, according to the letter he circulated, is concerned a lengthy discussion about whether women should be allowed to join, proposed by those in favour, would be a waste of time and embarrass the club.

“The harm that will be done to the club by the publicity of the club’s affairs in gossip columns etc may be incapable of repair,” he wrote in a letter sent to members on May 31.

In a 10-page missive, Mr Graham said it was absurd to think there was a clear desire for change, first raised at a May 2019 meeting, which he said was limited to few members.

However, Mr Stanham has recently described the vote as “the issue most frequently on the lips of members”.

Those pushing for women to be admitted as members include retired Supreme Court judge Michael Pembroke and former Credit Suisse banker David Kent.

The Australian Club does allow women to attend the club – if they are accompanied by male members – but not to join.

Even for men, membership to the club is by invitation only.

The nearby Queen’s Club, which has a relationship with the Australian Club, allows women to join as members.

An unrelated Melbourne institution also named The Australian Club also does not allow women to become members.