Melbourne have been directed by the Victorian Supreme Court to hand over a copy of the email addresses and names of club members to former board candidate Peter Lawrence ahead of next week’s special general meeting where a vote on proposed changes to the club’s constitution is to be held.
Lawrence’s group ‘Deemocracy’ wanted to put forward an alternative view to members before the meeting arguing a new constitution should be introduced that goes wider than the changes Melbourne have proposed.
He took the club to court to challenge their assessment that they were only obliged under the Corporations Act to hand over the postal or residential addresses to members rather than email addresses.
He had argued that restricted his capacity to communicate his view to the members as not every member’s postal or home address was available and it also restricted the capacity of ordinary members to campaign on issues relevant to members because of the cost attached to mail outs. The court heard that Lawrence had spent $56,000 in sending material to Melbourne members by post.
High point: Melbourne president Kate Roffey and CEO Gary Pert show off the premiership cup at the MCG in March.Credit:AFL Photos
On Wednesday, Justice Peter Riordan suggested to the Demons they might consider either making the emails available or offering to send Lawrence’s material via their system but they decided to fight the case having assured members they would and continued their argument on Friday.
However on hearing the arguments Justice Riordan decided that Lawrence should have access to the club members’ names and emails for the purposes they were requested and ordered the Demons to hand over that material by 8pm on Friday evening.
Lawrence’s legal representatives agreed to adhere to a request from Melbourne that Lawrence would destroy any capacity for him to use the email provided after Wednesday’s meeting.
Lawrence’s group want to maintain the capacity that just two members are required to nominate potential director candidates for election whereas Melbourne wishes to lift the number to 20, and that the constitution should limit director’s terms to nine years (three x three years) whereas the Demons want a provision that allows a president to serve for longer if elected midway through their nine-year term.
The ‘Deemocracy’ group also wants other provisions included relating to the diversity on the board and recognition of the AFLW team and the club’s history. Melbourne want to recognise their AFLW team and change chairman and vice-chairman to president and vice-president.
The decision could have wider application as clubs hold membership details including email addresses and credit card details on the AFL’s server. Although the court limited the access of details for proper purposes it opened the question as to what consisted of the register for polling purposes. The application of costs would be determined next week.
