‘It was guerrilla warfare’: Inside the fight for the future of the Australian Club | newsandimages
Geoff Cousins has a deep, gravelly, menacing voice. The sort that gets your attention and makes you sit up straight. His wife, the author Darleen Bungey, once described it more genteelly, saying it sounded like “crackling gum leaves”. Either way it’s a voice that holds a room, and one that rarely if ever catches from pressure or lack of confidence.
Few members present at the meeting knew that the very vote for which they had gathered – to amend the constitution to admit women into the club – was doomed to failure. Behind the scenes, members known as the “group of 15” were plotting to kill a process that was gathering momentum to admit women, and which had won the support of 150 of the club’s most illustrious members.
But the club’s male-only rule is now out of step with society where many of the nation’s leaders are women. It means that High Court Chief Justice Susan Kiefel isn’t allowed to be a member of the Australian Club because of her gender. Marie Bashir and Margaret Beazley, the former and current governors of NSW, could only attend through their husbands’ memberships. The chairman of Australia’s largest bank, Commonwealth Bank, Catherine Livingstone, is the wrong sex.
Malcolm McComas, a respected former investment banker, company board director and private investor, spoke at the meeting in favour of admitting women. In his speech, McComas told those present that he’d spoken to other members ahead of the meeting, and they were cynical about the group of 15’s rush to call the vote. “Some suggested that this underhanded and duplicitous strategy, seemingly designed to promote failure, will remain with them [its proponents] forever. Maybe it will, maybe it won’t.
The proposal they had put forward had the support of 150 prominent club members, including Cousins. But before it could gather more steam, a group of 15 members went to the club’s governing committee in May 2021. They had the numbers to requisition a special general meeting, and so they brought forward a vote on the matter. The club’s then president John Macarthur-Stanham set a date for June 15.
Cousins, who has quit the Australian Club, calls it “hypocritical” and a “conflict of interest”. “To remain there I think that’s unforgivable. If you read the gender equity policies of these corporations, a lot of it is written in florid language, ‘The future of our company rests on gender diversity’. And then you’ve got members of those boards who remain [at the Australian Club] that does exactly the opposite.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Inside East Melbourne’s newly opened ‘purple’ public gardenOf all the public gardens that have been established in the city, the Family Violence Memorial is the first to have been fashioned as a “political intervention”.
Read more »
Oliver Mol on surviving a 10-month migraine: ‘If I didn’t tell this story it would rot inside me’Suddenly unable to write, the acclaimed young author took a job on the railway. His memoir Train Lord tells of the refuge and reckoning he found there
Read more »
Wither the AMA: Is the powerful doctors’ union losing its clout?As the Australian Medical Association meets for its national conference in Sydney, declining membership and COVID-era arguments prompt questions about its future.
Read more »
Wither the AMA: Is the powerful doctors’ union losing its clout?As the Australian Medical Association meets for its national conference in Sydney, declining membership and COVID-era arguments prompt questions about its future.
Read more »
Council resorts to crowdfunding for Eucla airstrip upgrade after years of rejectionA regional West Australian council says it's exploring online crowdfunding out of 'desperation' to upgrade its remote airstrip on the Nullarbor after failing to secure government money.
Read more »
If Putin is using gas prices to fight Europe, how can it fight back?Analysis: in this massive hybrid war, Europe is preparing its defences before winter and hoping sanctions bite
Read more »