Melbourne’s attempt to modify their constitution at a special general meeting next week has turned nasty, with former board candidate Peter Lawrence taking the club to court in an attempt to put his case to members that the constitution should be overhauled.
Lawrence’s application to receive members’ details will be heard in the Supreme Court on Wednesday in front of Justice Riordan, just one week before the club hoped to introduce limited changes to their constitution. A source with knowledge of the matter said Lawrence wanted access to member emails as well as postal addresses.
In the first review of the constitution in 15 years, Melbourne set up a Constitutional Reform Working Group and made the potential amendments available on the club’s website. To pass the changes, the club requires the support to exceed 75 per cent of members that vote.
Melbourne wants to acknowledge their AFLW team in the constitution.Credit:Getty
Members have been sent the proposed changes, which include term limits for ordinary directors of nine years (three terms of three years), but maintain the capacity for a president to serve on the board for up to 15 years, depending on what stage of their tenure they are elected president. They also want to change the title of the chairman to president, acknowledge the AFLW team, allow for online voting and require 20 members to endorse a candidate for election to the board, rather than two.
Lawrence, who ran for the board at the past two elections, has established a group called Deemocracy that would like to limit the director’s terms to nine years regardless of when they become president and also maintain the requirement that a member only needs to receive nomination by two voting members to be eligible as a candidate for a director election.
The club, which won the 2021 premiership, intends to hold their special general meeting next Wednesday, October 26 where the proposed changes were to be put to a vote.
