Motorcycling Victoria Board of Directors Statement
December 13, 2024
Dear MV Clubs and Life Members, Mr Chamberlain’s statement of the 13th Dec is not factually accurate and, in the opinion of the MV Board, has been issued in bad faith.
Contrary to what is asserted in Mr Chamberlain’s statement, MV has not “at the 11th hour decided not to support the adoption of the new constitution.”
In September, MV, in partnership with MNSW and MWA, requested legal advice on the clauses in the proposed new constitution. Following receipt of that legal advice, a document was prepared identifying clauses of concern, requested changes to those clauses and a rationale for each of the changes. This document was submitted by MNSW at the appropriate levels, supported by MV, and many of the proposed changes were rejected, often without reason or adequate rationale. The document outlining the requested changes and rationale is attached.
MV has not indicated which way it intends to vote on MA’s constitution. MV only received the official final draft on Thursday 12th December, which we have attached for your information. The MV board is assessing its position on the proposed changes and will determine how it intends to vote once they have had the opportunity to evaluate the overall document.
The MAIL board, via the MA board, have also issued a warning to all states that they will “act to withdraw cover under the policy of general liability insurance in respect of any SCB that acts in bad faith”.
We note that the vote on the proposed new MA constitution is an entirely separate matter to the Delegation of Authority and is in our opinion being used as an excuse not to engage with MV in good faith.
On 1 November 2024, MV’s lawyers sent a lengthy letter to MA explaining why we considered the decision to withdraw MV’s authority to issue event permits and the associated denial of access to MAIL’s insurance was unlawful. We have still received no substantive response to the matters raised in that letter.
On 11 November 2024, MV wrote to the MA board formally proposing that the parties attend mediation to attempt to resolve the dispute.
After further correspondence between the parties, a mediation was ultimately scheduled for Thursday 12th at 4pm. MA then unilaterally cancelled this mediation session at the last minute citing the vote on the proposed new MA constitution as a reason for withdrawal.
Prior to this session MA had indicated to MV that it was willing to offer Delegation of Authority on the basis of MV performing a Constitutional uplift, engaging an independent board observer and continuing with our operational engagements. MV believed that this position, with some negotiation as to its precise terms and implementation, would have been accepted as the conditions were not unreasonable, nor particularly onerous on the whole. MV feels this mediation time could also have been used to explore the constitution issue alongside the Delegation concerns.
It is extremely disappointing that MA is seeking to write to you as MV members in an apparent attempt to turn you against the MV Board, whilst at the same time, MA has consistently failed or refused to meaningfully engage with MV about the issues in dispute.
We remain hopeful that a resolution will be able to be reached but implore you to reach out to MA Board members and encourage them to meet with their counterparts at MV to listen to our concerns, rather than merely presenting us with ultimatums that in our opinion are not in the best interest of the sport.
Kind regards,
MV Board of Directors
