State branches saddle up lawyers to challenge equestrian reforms

The five state branches revolting against Equestrian Australia’s administration have made a last-ditch attempt to free the national body of receivership.

Picture: AAP Image/Supplied by Brett Holburt.

The five state branches revolting against the administration of Equestrian Australia have made a last-ditch attempt to free the ­national body of receivership ahead of a creditors meeting on Tuesday that will determine whether the embattled organisation is closed down or reformed.

Five state branches have lawyered up to issue a new demand to the administrators, KordaMentha, calling on the company to end Equestrian Australia’s receivership by paying the national sporting body’s creditors.

They also said the administration was being driven by an ­“improper purpose”.

A letter from Gilchrist Connell Principal lawyer Alex Haslam to administrators Craig Shepard and Kate Conneely on Friday says the decision to place the body into administration was to drive constitutional change and not because the body was insolvent.

“Given that the administrators have been appointed to a solvent company, there is limited (or negligible) work for the administrators to perform,” the letter reads.

Another letter from Equestrian Tasmania chair Timothy Williams to the administrators on Sunday says the states will block KordaMentha’s proposal at Tuesday’s meeting, which could lead to a deadlock and liquidation of the national body.

Such a move would be disastrous for every rider across the nation­, effectively preventing com­petitions and events and dashing hopes of sending a team to the Olympics.

“If Equestrian Australia is put into liquidation, it will be as a result of your decisions, not the state branches,” he wrote.

Mr Williams also said there had been “fundamental legal defects” in the administrative process and it was highly likely under KordaMentha’s proposal that the company would be wound up.

Members and stakeholders, including Sport Australia and the Australian Olympic Committee, will be able to vote for either the state branches’ proposal or KordaMentha’s on Tuesday.

A source close to disgruntled state branches that stand to lose their control under Korda­Mentha’s proposal said on Monday they felt they were being held to ransom and told “unless you reform the way we want you to, you won’t go to the Olympic Games”.

Equestrian Australia has received $13m in taxpayer funds over four years. To send a team to Tokyo, the body will have to show it is conducting its activities in compliance with the AOC constitution, the Olympic charter and the rules of the Federation Equestre Internationale.

The saga comes weeks after the national body’s government funding was rescinded when Sport Australia said Equestrian Australia’s governance had “fallen well short of acceptable standards”.