Rule 34 Sub Committee report on allegations from SGM
The State Committee has endorsed the report and recommendations of the sub-committee formed under rule 34, to investigate three allegations that were brought by two Sub-Branches, namely the Illawarra and Sydney North Sub Branches and then carried at a subsequent SGM.
The Sub-committee’s report can be found here and the State Committee motion can be found here.
The report is quite lengthy. It is important for the membership to fully understand all of the work the State Committee had undertaken since these matters were brought to their attention in April last year and I encourage all members to take the time to read the report in full. The below extract is from the reports Executive Summary:
‘Whilst the Sub Committee recommend that none of the three allegations can be sustained the Sub Committee have found that both previous and current state committees, including the current State Secretary, have acted outside of Union policy.
This occurred through the continued use of a repayment procedure that was endorsed at the February 2018 State Committee meeting and is further explained in detail throughout the report.
The State Committee has unreservedly accepted the concerns raised for this lack of due diligence; however, the Sub Committee were comfortable that all finances were accounted for and that both the State Committee and the State Secretary acted in good faith on all occasions.
The Sub Committee is confident that all members of the State Committee, at any point in time during the period in question, were acting honestly and with integrity and that no illegal or fraudulent activity took place.
We thank the members of the State Committee and the general membership for their patience as we moved through this process which has, for many and various reasons, taken longer than anticipated.’
As the President and Sub Committee Chair, I would like to thank the members of the State Committee who volunteered their time and participated in the Rule 34 sub-committee process.
I also take this opportunity to apologise to the membership for any concern and confusion caused throughout this process. I am proud of how hard the State Committee has worked through some important changes in our union over the last year and look forward to continuing to review, improve and grow our union into a stronger voice, one the Government can’t ignore.
