VFF boycott: UDV president Bernie Free banned from Farrer House

VFF has warned United Dairyfarmers of Victoria boss Bernie Free that if he “intends to attend Farrer House, he will be asked to leave”.

United Dairyfarmers of Victoria president Bernie Free says he has been briefed on why he has been banned from attending Farrer House.

United Dairyfarmers of Victoria president Bernie Free has been banned from attending the Farrer House headquarters of the Victorian Farmers Federation.

Mr Free said VFF chief executive Brendan Tatham also excluded him from a meeting with the dairy industry’s Gardiner Foundation on Monday this week, without explanation.

“The Gardiner Foundation contacted me (on Friday) to let me know Brendan had banned me from the meeting,” Mr Free said. “That’s despite the UDV being the foundation’s farmer member.”

The bans follow attempts by Mr Free and other disgruntled farmers to oust sitting VFF president Emma Germano and her vice-president Danyel Cucinotta.

VFF lawyers, Maddocks, issued a letter in May stating: “If Mr Free intends to attend Farrer House, he will be asked to leave”.

Mr Free said the last time he attended Farrer House was to lodge a petition, signed by about 160 VFF members in February, calling for an extraordinary general meeting to vote on ousting Ms Germano and Cucinotta, which the VFF board consequently ruled was invalid.

Mr Free and former grains group president Andrew Weidemann went ahead with the EGM at St Arnaud on May 10, despite the board’s ruling, where all but one of the 381 farmers in attendance backed a motion to oust the VFF president and vice-president.

Maddocks lawyers’ letter states “any attendance at the VFF’s offices can only be considered an attempt by Mr Free to intimidate and harass VFF staff and officers, given the multiple times Mr Free and/or Mr Weidemann have been advised that no valid meeting of members could be or has been called”.

It appears Mr Free’s criticism of the federation and the board also prompted Maddocks to warn that “members will conduct themselves in accordance with the VFF’s code of conduct, media policy and any other policies”.

Mr Free said no-one at VFF had briefed him on any breaches of policies and all he had done was exercise his rights under the constitution to advocate for change.

The Weekly Times is seeking a response from Mr Tatham as to why bans have been imposed on Mr Free.