As advised on Wednesday, the Club appeared in the Supreme Court to contest the recent request of a member to have access to all MFC members’ email addresses.
This request follows the member gaining access to all members’ postal addresses under the provisions of the Corporations Act.
Since Wednesday, in support of the Club’s position on this matter, we have received in excess of 350 phone calls, emails, and social media posts from members expressing their frustration that their personal information may be available for a member to contact them directly, without their permission.
This hearing concluded today, and the Court has directed the Club to provide the member access to your email address, in addition to your postal address.
Whilst we are disappointed with the Court’s decision, the Club must provide the member with a copy of the email addresses. We have requested the Court to order that the member destroys the email addresses immediately after the Special General Meeting next Wednesday.
To provide further information in response to the queries we have received from members regarding this matter, and with the Supreme Court hearing now concluded and a decision made, we have collated responses to the frequently asked questions for your information below.
Should you have any further queries that have not been covered below, please contact the Club directly on info@melbournefc.com.au
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did the Club provide the member with my postal address?
The Club received legal advice that under the Corporations Act this was required to be provided to the member upon their request for a copy of the Member Register (which holds those addresses).
Why is the member contacting me?
We understand the member is contacting you to put forward their views on the proposed changes to the Club Constitution, which are to be considered at next week’s Special General Meeting.
Why didn’t the Club offer to send the correspondence on behalf of the member when they asked for the Member Register and then subsequently asked for email addresses?
The Club does not believe it is appropriate to enable one member to contact all other members in an unsolicited fashion. This could result in a wave of requests from members to share their individual views with all other members on a range of Club related matters.
The Club also cannot be in a position where it is seen to either endorse views of any member in such circumstances, or send communications directly to members which it believes may be incorrect and / or misleading.
At the Supreme Court hearing the Club offered that should the Court find in the member’s favour regarding the provision of member email addresses, that the Club could facilitate the circulation of this email on their behalf. This offer was rejected by the member.
Could the Club have taken any further action to prevent the member accessing my personal information?
No.
The disclosure of the Member Register is a direct requirement of the Corporations Act, and does not have any interaction with the Club’s Privacy Policy or other matters within the Club’s control.
The Club wrote to the member concerned asking for the request to be withdrawn, given the anticipated concerns of our membership.
Can I opt out of receiving communications from the member?
No.
Unlike other communications directly from the Club, you can not opt out of receiving communications from a member who has gained such access by direction of the Court.
Given the member has access to my personal information, can the Club also share the member’s details with me?
No. It is neither appropriate or legal for the Club to provide members with these details.
Why is the Club changing its Constitution?
The decision to put Constitutional change to members was primarily driven by the need to allow electronic voting for Director Elections. Given Constitutional change is an expensive, time consuming and infrequent exercise, the Melbourne Football Club Board decided it was important to review and modernise the Constitution in its entirety to make sure that the Constitution works to support the Club for many years to come.
The three key benefits of the proposed changes to the Constitution are:
- The move to electronic voting for director elections. This will save considerable time and cost when there is a contested election;
- The introduction of director tenure limits, which ensures that rotation of directors is mandated in the Constitution. There is currently no restriction on how long a director can remain on the Board.
- The language contained within the Constitution being more inclusive, including the reference to President rather than Chairman, and the recognition of our AFLW team.
A copy of the explanatory memorandum was provided to members and is available for by clicking here.
Has the Club gone through a proper process to ensure the proposed changes to its Constitution are appropriate?
Yes.
The Club has gone through a thorough process, including:
- Convening a working group consisting of directors, management, and members;
- Benchmarking against other relevant constitutions;
- Extensive consultation with members, including club issued surveys, meetings with members and member groups, and one on one meetings with members where these have been requested;
- Engagement of a Constitutional Law expert to assist with the legal drafting.
Ultimately any change to the Constitution is at the discretion of members. The required threshold to affect any change is 75% of members who vote.
Has the Club engaged with the member directly regarding their views on the Constitution?
Yes.
This member has been engaged with directly on a number of occasions and the Club has considered this member’s views, as it has done with all member feedback, and there are aspects where this member’s feedback has positively influenced the proposed changes that have been put to the members for their consideration.
The challenge for the Club is to balance the perspectives of all members, as well as other factors such as contemporary benchmarks, when proposing changes for the consideration of members.
