Equestrian Australia avoids liquidation with vote endorsing change

Equestrian sport in Australia has been thrown a lifeline after a majority of Equestrian Australia’s state branches voted in favour of constitutional changes at a meeting held today.

Equestrian Australia is now on a path for reform following a vote today to change its constitution to give every member voting rights.

A CRISIS has been averted for Equestrian Australia’s 18,000 members after a majority of the sport’s state branches today voted in favour of constitutional changes that will open the door to reform for the embattled organisation and avoid liquidation.

The sport’s federal governing body was placed into voluntary administration three months ago following the shock withdrawal of its funding from Sport Australia in protest over years of governance issues and board instability.

At a special general meeting convened by administrators KordaMentha today, five of Equestrian Australia’s six state branches voted in favour of changes to the organisation’s constitution to dilute their power and extend voting rights to every member. Previously the state branches controlled 100 per cent of the voting rights. Equestrian Queensland abstained from voting.

Despite early warnings from the state branches that they would use their veto power to block the changes due to shared concerns about a “one member, one vote” system — a model not seen in any sporting code in Australia — adjustments brokered with administrators Craig Shepard and Kate Conneely and veteran sports administrator Matt Miller over the past two months paved the way for its success.

If the resolution failed to pass at today’s meeting, administrators were due to wind up the company, threatening Australia’s chances of representation at the Tokyo Olympics.

The voting model adopted is designed to democratise the sport, which was outlined as a necessary step towards regaining the faith, and funds, of Sport Australia and reaccreditation with the Australian Olympic Committee, which was lost when Equestrian Australia entered voluntary administration in June.

Matt Miller, who was elected as an independent chair of the state branches’ governance committee and who is a former chief executive of Sport Australia, said a majority of state branches agreed to KordaMentha’s proposal of a “double majority”, whereby 75 per cent of members and five of the six states have to agree on a proposed change.

“It provides for a far more balanced perspective because there’s a lot more to running a sport than member interest … There’s a range of significant stakeholders including government,” Mr Miller said.

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