A general shareholders meeting on April 10 will decide on a motion by three requisitioning directors to remove the company’s two non-member directors.
The takeover bid by three directors, including two elected to the MIL board in November, took a turn this week when MIL chair Phil Snowden sent a Chair Update to shareholders.
It included an executive summary of an Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) process undertaken by the MIL board earlier this year.
In his update, Mr Snowden said that as part of the ADR process, “a comprehensive report and director skills assessment has been prepared by the ADR facilitator Allan Parker and Julie Garland McLellan”.
He encouraged all shareholders to read the report and accompanying documentation before voting at the general meeting.
Mr Snowden continued: “Within the report, Allan Parker OAM has stated, ‘with a takeover to gain control of the board in this fashion, along with the resignation of CEO and the possible need to reappoint up to several directors, the risk and destabilisation to the organisation is substantial, and needs to be considered with great care’.”
Mr Snowden then said that “also raised as of serious concern throughout the ADR process is ‘a sexual harassment claim regarding one of the ‘group of three’ which has not been managed appropriately nor fully to completion’.”
The ‘group of three’ appears to refer to the three requisitioning directors.
Mr Snowden said: “I’d like to reassure shareholders that this matter is being taken very seriously and steps are being put in place to ensure all staff feel safe in their place of work.
“Over the coming weeks, there will be an abundance of information distributed through the local media and via face-to-face conversations between shareholders, directors and community members.
“I encourage all shareholders to participate in the proposed General Meeting, to do your own research into information you have heard or seen, and to think carefully about how you cast your vote.
“This will ensure the future of Murray Irrigation is not put at risk by the possible disruption that the removal of Non-Members Directors Trisha Gorman and Robert Burbury from the Murray Irrigation Board could cause.”
In a statement provided to the Pastoral Times when the general meeting was announced, requisitioning directors Steve Fawns, Troy Mauger and Brendan Barry said their resolution to the general meeting was “not a political ploy nor a hostile takeover”, adding, “rather, this is an issue of governance and business skills”.
In an assessment of board skills conducted this year as part of the ADR process by Julia Garland McLellan, her subjective view of the Non-Member Directors was that Robert Burbury was “very impressive, clear thinker, action oriented, commercial nous, lifelong learner, tough but not abrasive”.
Trisha Gorman was described as “competent, tenacious, likes policy and process (possibly at the cost of some of her human connection to the team?), good project and change manager, empathetic, loves technology and change, prone to worry about details but reliable to get details right”.
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