“On December 4, MEAA officer holder directors provided our final position, based on legal advice, and it appears there has a misunderstanding of that position,” the remaining three directors said.
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“This includes our proposal to establish term limits (both an example of good governance and an item recommended by legal advice commissioned by the board) and of maintaining the current director balance (with the addition of two new directors put forward by MEAA directors, not the one new MEAA director that has been claimed).”
Last month, Ferguson, who chairs the foundation’s board was presented with the Gold Walkley by Neighbour, the chair of the Walkley Advisory Board, which oversees judging for the awards.
The three previous union representatives on the Foundation’s board resigned this year over the ongoing battle. The union has controlled the foundation and the awards since its inception 70 years ago.
The board was previously described to this masthead as fractious and dysfunctional in March, with lines drawn between those representing the union and those in non-union appointed directorships.
At the time, the union said the foundation’s constitution was so to ensure the foundation remained in the hands of journalists, not other professions such as lawyers, which had been proposed as an example of introducing new skill sets and expertise to its ranks.
There have been suggestions the internal battle has arisen due to the union’s increasing tendency to take positions on contested matters, albeit those that are largely supported among its membership.
The Walkley Foundation concluded a review into its sponsorship policies in 2024 and opted not to renew its partnership with Ampol after protests from a number of high-profile cartoonists in 2023.
The union also passed a resolution calling for ethical reporting in the Israel-Gaza conflict in late 2023.
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The resigning directors said they had served their roles diligently and had been honoured to do so, but felt they could not properly discharge their fiduciary duties in an organisation whose governance was so deeply flawed, particularly after their attempts to bring about change failed.
“Now that our modest reform proposal has been comprehensively rejected – and MEAA has responded with a counterproposal that would further entrench its control – we feel we have no option but to resign forthwith.”
The trio said the union’s counterproposal would limit the chair of the Walkley Advisory Board, until this morning Neighbour, to a term of two years as well as changing the process of appointment and voting rules in ways that “weaken independent oversight and concentrate decision-making power”.
“Taken together, these changes raise serious governance concerns.”
