Read our Feature Article 'A New Era for Equestrian Australia'
The Board of Equestrian Australia (EA) has today (9th June 2020) announced that it has ‘taken the difficult decision to place Equestrian Australia Ltd into Voluntary Administration’
Equestrian Australia was formed in the 1950s and since this time, Australia has built a reputation for elite performance in the sport, with nine Olympic gold, four silver and eight bronze medals.
The organisation has more than 20,000 members, nine staff members and annual turnover of about $6 million. State branches of EA are run by separate boards.
“Clearly, the current EA model does not work. The intent of entering Voluntary Administration is to avoid insolvency, which would be disastrous, and to create the conditions for a successful and sustainable equestrian community into the future” says the EA press release
The announcement follows the withdrawal of public funding by Sports Australia, which felt it could no longer in good faith continue to contribute public funds ‘until the organisation is both representative of the membership and stable in governance and operation’
“Combined with the impact of COVID-19 on our forecast revenue, this places the organisation at risk of trading insolvently” says the EA Board
Difficulties have been present regarding the governance and structure of EA for several years. Last month former Olympian and chairwoman Ricky MacMillan resigned, becoming the third chairperson in 18 months to do so.
Craig Shepard and Kate Conneely of KordaMentha have been appointed as Voluntary Administrators.
The Administrators will take control of the remainder of EA. The constitution is effectively set aside in favour of their powers under the Corporations Act. The operations of EA continue without change at this stage and there is no planned loss of jobs.
The Administrators will work with the creditors of EA to determine the conditions for exiting Voluntary Administration.
“This process is intended to be rapid, envisaged by the Corporations Act to take about a month. This will enable EA to rebuild as a viable, representative, democratic and stable national sporting organisation that is retuned to a focus on sport as quickly as possible”
Effective immediately the High-Performance (HP) program will be transferred under the oversight of the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS).
“The HP Panel will remain in place, funding returned to the AIS, and the program will continue unabated in pursuit of equestrian gold at the upcoming Olympics. At this stage, no change in HP staffing arrangements have been made”
