EA AGM Special Business

The Equestrian Australia (EA) Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held on 18 Jan 2021. At this meeting, a Special Business Notice of Motion will be considered to grant Equestrian Northern Territory (Equestrian NT) full voting Branch status.

All participating members of EA, including the nominated parent/guardian of Juniors and representatives of Clubs/Groups, are eligible to take part in the EA AGM and vote on this motion and should have received an email from EA with a link to register your attendance. In the interests of transparency and inclusion, the Equestrian NSW Board provides this briefing to members, to help you make an informed decision about the vote.

Some of the details to be considered include:
• Equestrian NT has about 220 members. In contrast, Equestrian NSW has 8,000 members and overall, EA has about 18,000.
• Under the current EA Constitution, all Equestrian NT members are participating members of EA under the One Member - One Vote principle. Effectively, individual Equestrian NT members have the same voting rights as every other EA participating member.
• Equestrian NT members have a say with the EA National Discipline Committees of Dressage, Show Horse and Jumping, as these are the two equestrian sports that most Equestrian NT members participate in.
• In all respects, Equestrian NT operates as a Branch, with a Board and staff and does a good job to represent and support its members.

What happens if the motion is passed?
• Equestrian NT will become the seventh Branch, with full voting rights, the same as the other six Branches.
• These voting rights are allocated equally across all Branches, regardless of membership numbers or discipline coverage. Branch voting rights are not proportional to the member numbers or discipline coverage. It is based on One Branch – One Vote. For example, even though Equestrian NSW represents 8,000 members across all disciplines, it is entitled to one vote as a Branch.
• Amendments to the EA Constitution (including major reforms to EA) will need six of the seven Branches to support the amendments (as 75% majority is required). The current EA constitution requires five of six Branches to support the change.
• The operations of Equestrian NSW will not be impacted. We will continue to represent our members’ interests and participate in the EA reform process.

What is needed for the motion to pass?
• 5% of EA Participating Members (which is about 900 registered voters including proxies) must vote at the upcoming AGM.
• At least 75% (about 675) of the Voting Members must vote in favour of the motion.
• Under the current EA Constitution, at least five of the six State Branches must also vote in favour of the motion, under the double majority principle.

Equestrian NSW understands that Equestrian NT would like to have its own voice, as a standalone Branch to represent its 220 members as part of the upcoming EA reform process and beyond. Alternatively, the status of Equestrian NT and potentially the formation of Equestrian ACT, could be considered under the broader EA reform process.

The NSW Board is committed to listening to and supporting the intentions of our members. As a result, we have asked EA to run the member voting before the Branch voting so we can see what members want before casting our vote for the Equestrian NT motion. At this stage, we have not had a response from EA to confirm if this is a possibility, although they have confirmed that they will not provide any information on a state-by-state basis to ensure confidentiality.

If you need more information or want to discuss the motion, please contact the Equestrian NSW office on 9620 2660 or email [email protected].

BRAD FRANKUM – Equestrian NSW President