Held on Wednesday, August 30, the webinar was used to provide feedback from a survey distributed earlier this year, however, the survey has come under fire from members as being “skewed”.
Wimmera grain grower and former member of various VFF working committees Denise McLellan said many of the online survey questions could have been more “neutral”.
“They could have been better written to provide for a range of opinions,” Ms McLellan said.
“They were asking questions to get the answers they wanted, so if people did respond, it will appear as if an overwhelming number of members support the changes.”
Further criticism has come from three members of the grains commodity group concerning wasted money and the unsuitability of the changes proposed for the VFF constitution.
Grains Group president Craig Henderson, vice-president Ryan Milgate and member Jason Mellings said VFF members were “sick and tired” of money being spent “recklessly” on lawyers.
All three farmers slammed the lack of consultation with members which they said had resulted in a “massive” amount of work by the commodity groups.
“This has cost the organisation a huge amount of money, resources and time from volunteers,” Mr Henderson said.
“I think an overview of our issue is that the draft constitution was organised by (VFF president) Emma Germano and lawyers, and it was out of touch with the membership.
“It was a waste of money.”
Mr Mellings said several members had recently told him of their plans to leave the VFF if the proposed changes went ahead.
“People have said to me, ‘if this happens then we are out of here’.
“So, I ask: why be a member — what’s the point?”
Former Grains Group president Andrew Weidemann said some VFF sponsors had also discussed withdrawing their funding of the organisation.
“There are a number of issues with what was proposed in the constitution, but the VFF has bigger issues with sponsors concerned about escalation in lawyer costs,” Mr Weidemann said.
A resolution was submitted by Mr Weidemann on August 14 on behalf of more than 200 members to remove the leadership of the VFF.
The resolution’s 21-day response period ended on Monday, September 4.
Mr Milgate took aim at the board’s decision to liquidate in May its deed poll share portfolio worth $9.7million, saying the current board had consistently provided misleading information on the portfolio’s performance.
“It was managed professionally, and it had rigorous and strict guidelines,” he said.
“But they have been using selected periods to exaggerate the argument that it was not making money, instead of using the total performance of it over the life of the deed poll.”
Although Mr Henderson said the intended “end game” was to remove Ms Germano as president, he stressed it was not based on emotion.
“It is an evidence-based decision,” he said.
“The draft constitution has totally disregarded members, and it seems they have gone for a corporate model and not a member-based model.
“She has totally misread the members, which takes away the core of the organisation.
“We backed her originally and she hasn’t performed or listened to members.
“It’s as simple as that.”
12°C