Dunsford responds to EGM rejection claims

According to the AFA’s by-laws, the board must call an EGM if it is validly requested by a group of members with at least 5 per cent of the votes that may be cast at the EGM or by at least 100 members who are entitled to vote at the EGM, Mr Dunsford said in an email to Risk Adviser.

A letter from AFA chief executive Brad Fox to Mr Dunsford stated that 127 of the 225 forms received have been validated.

Mr Dunsford told Risk Adviser this number is more than the 100 required to call an EGM.

Risk Adviser reported last week that the AFA said more than 100 of the 230 forms it received could not be accepted, for a range of reasons, pushing the number of valid forms beneath the 5 per cent threshold required to request an EGM.

The association said 50 of the forms were duplicates, 25 were provided by people who were not AFA members and 28 forms could not be verified as they incorrectly identified the member.

“The AFA has notified Mr Mark Dunsford who provided the forms calling for the EGM that less than 5 per cent of the voting members of the AFA are represented and, accordingly, the AFA cannot take his special resolution to change the AFA constitution to the membership as yet,” the association said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The AFA is telephoning 24 members where forms have been received in their name but the details provided are insufficient to identify whether the member completed the form.

“The AFA will help them complete the form if that was their intention.”

AFA national president Deborah Kent said the association’s board acknowledges the right of members to call an EGM within the confines of good governance under the Corporations Act and will facilitate a resolution if and when the requisite 5 per cent of voting members is reached.

Adrian Flores

Adrian Flores is a deputy editor at Momentum Media, focusing mainly on banking, wealth management and financial services. He has also written for Public Accountant, Accountants Daily and The CEO Magazine.

You can contact him on [email protected].