|
Letter from the PLA National President
Dear members,
This is a message I never thought I would have to write in all our time serving PLA, although it is an important one for our members to be aware of.
Regretfully I can no longer stand by and let the hostile actions of a few, spreading misinformation, causing damage and bringing our organisation into disrepute, continue.
I hear you all and agree, it is time to set the record straight for our members.
Damage has been done by a small group of WA Region Council members spreading misinformation to our members, our government partners, our valued sponsors and supporters, our region councils and even our insurance companies, putting our members and the organisation at risk. Personally attacking individual volunteers on social media with falsehoods is a whole other level of harassment and disrespect.
The unwarranted personal attacks, the significant and consistent breaches and the harassment of, and spread of misinformation to, our stakeholders, is done with the sole intention of disrupting due process and putting all of PLA at risk.
It is ok for people to have a difference of opinion, but we are all humans, professional volunteers from the industry, committing their time and energy to bring you the events, activities, advocacy and services you enjoy. I learnt a lot from communication expert Carol Fox, who says all communication should be based on the THINK acronym; before you comment or say something, run it through this filter:
Is it:
- True
- Helpful
- Informative
- Necessary
- Kind
Your Board, Regions and Committees are made up of volunteers from the industry committing their time doing what we can in the best interests of the organisation and our members – the people behind the places.
The hostile approach and spread of misinformation have gone beyond any comprehension of acceptable behaviour and is not a culture parks and leisure professionals expect and/or will tolerate. It is not in the spirit of Parks and Leisure Australia and what we all stand for.
In a time when PLA is coming together, it is now under threat and we feel it is important to address some of the misinformation being spread around the country from within the WA Region Council, designed only to scaremonger and divide our membership to drive a self-interested agenda, that is unsupported by the rest of the Regions.
Although we have attempted to ignore this behaviour, I hear your call to respond, and it is time to set the record straight for our members and so everyone is informed with the facts:
National Board Status
The WA Region Council asserts that the National Board are unconstitutional. This is simply not true. The period the WA Region Council are referring to occurred during the February 2024 National Board meeting where our National President at the time, had to unexpectedly stand down due to some personal and capacity reasons but remained on the Board in the capacity of Immediate Past President. In that same meeting, the Board received a report with a recommendation to appoint Stefan Ratnasingham as the new Finance Director after a recruitment process. These changes required a reshuffle of the National Board to ensure that there would be no more than five skills-based Directors on the Board at any one time (as per clauses 41(c) and 46(d) of the Constitution).
In the same meeting above, there was a need to immediately appoint a new National President. Nominations were called and a vote was held, the outcome of which was to appoint Kristin Davies, a skills-based Director, as President (WA Region representative voted against and the majority vote including majority of region representatives all voting in favour). The appointment was consistent with clauses 41(a) and clause 46(b) of the Constitution, neither of which prevent skills-based Directors from being appointed to the office of National President. Relevantly, those clauses provide the following:
Clause 41(a): The National President is “elected from the members of the Board, noting that in a sub-clause if a Region President is appointment to the role of National President it allows that person to surrender their Regional Presidency and for the replacement Regional President to be appointed under clause 41(b)”.
Clause 46(b): The Directors of PLA include the National President, “who shall be elected from the current Board membership”.
Before the new Finance Director could start, or even accept the position, the Governance Director moved to an advisory position to make room for the appointment, and all was updated with ASIC. At no time were there too many directors on the Board and at no time did too many directors attend any meetings and/or make decisions.
Skills-based Directors are appointed when the Board require a certain set of skills and/or expertise. An Expression of Interest process is completed, and a recommendation is made to the Board for decision. All co-opted skills-based Directors have been appointed this way.
Each year at the AGM, all positions on the National Board are reappointed at the vote of the members at the AGM.
The WA Region Council obtained legal advice from a barrister in April 2024 in relation to PLA’s governance (including in relation to the validity of the Board appointments discussed above). The Board understands that this advice has been shared broadly by the WA Region Council and that it is being used to undermine the validity of Board appointments discussed above. The advice merely seeks to provide interpretation and was directed by a set of misrepresented circumstances. It also acknowledges that the Constitution contains “omissions, contradictions and anomalies which make it open to competing interpretations” and “makes the task of interpretation difficult and uncertain”.
The Board is satisfied that its own interpretation of the Constitution (outlined above) is reasonable and that all current Board members have been validly appointed. This interpretation is shared by the whole National Board, including region representatives and the legal team who reviewed the current constitution.
State government funding and status
The WA Region Council asserts that the WA region will not be able to access government funding and/or will lose status as your representative peak body if it does not separately incorporate. This is simply not true. The Western Australian government are long time, valued supporters of PLA. The Western Australian government’s “State Government Investment in Sport Policy” clearly establishes that PLA in its current model is eligible for ongoing funding and this was further confirmed in meetings with DLGSC Directors. PLA continues to comply with this policy and ensures all grant funding received is spent in the WA Region for the local benefit of Western Australian members.
This was further demonstrated when the grant called for three other pieces of strategic work be completed over the last three years. These being nation-wide pieces of work, were funded outside the grant, ensuring that all grant funds remained directly spent in WA to serve WA members locally.
All special projects and initiatives delivered by WA were funded out of PLA consolidated revenue. Funding for WA special projects was $66,000 higher than any other region for the past 3 years. All member fees are spent on delivering services to members. The assertion that WA member income is not spent on members is not true. The fact is it is the other way around, WA special projects are supported by other regions as it is thought that these initiatives should be shared for the greater good of PLA across all regions.
WA Region Council Delegations
The WA Region Council asserts that they have been stood down. This is simply not true, they have had their delegations removed, in accordance with the Constitution, in response to abdicating their responsibilities for more than 6 months, noncompliance and not having an approved budget or operational plan and for significant and repeated financial breaches and other breaches of PLA’s delegation’s Policy. These measures were put in place to reduce further risk to the organisation and our members. No region is above any other and no region is above the policies and procedures of our organisation.
Business improvement and new constitution
Change takes time within the organisation and since 2019, we have been on a journey towards a new way of working, delivering a program of business improvement which I have shared for the past few months.
The next step of that planned program of work was to update the outdated Constitution. The Official Draft PLA Constitution has been developed in collaboration with regional council representatives and legal advisors to ensure it supports best practice, contemporary governance, national gender policy alignment and creates the necessary scaffolding to pursue the next phase of strategic work – to explore obtaining charitable status to future proof the organisation, just to name a few. These are all outlined in the explanatory notes.
The collaborative way forward was not supported by the WA Region Council who wanted a different model to the rest of the country and weren’t prepared to compromise, despite several attempts over many months.
The WA Region Council wanted a purely federated model but would not compromise and could not substantiate the justification for it, and all other regions disagreed. Since that point the WA Region Council has been dedicated to disrupting the process. Regretfully that hostile approach has had a significant impact and they have garnered local support based on misinformation and scaremongering and this is why we now feel it is important to set the record straight.
You may be hearing from some individuals from the WA Region Council regarding a constitution (the WA Constitution). The WA Constitution was developed in isolation and without engagement with PLA members or other regions. It pushes for a federated model that is not supported by the broader organisation or any other regions.
Critically, the WA Constitution provides for less accountability and collaboration from the WA Region Council to the National Board and PLA as an organisation. Additionally, the WA Constitution is based on the current Constitution and carries across some of the omissions, contradictions and anomalies (discussed above) that make it difficult to follow and interpret.
The National Board and regions do not support the WA Constitution as it is not in the best interests of our members and the organisation as a whole. Please ensure that you read the explanatory notes and supporting information before you vote. Alternatively please reach out to the National Board, National Office, Regional Councillors or PLA Advisory if you have questions.
It is important that your voice is heard, as a member! Please vote or provide your proxy vote someone who is attending the EGM and AGM on 15th October in Brisbane to protect and future proof the organisation and continue the journey driving PLA forward – better together and with a culture we can be proud of.
Kind Regards,
Kristin Davies
National President, Parks & Leisure Australia
|
