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auDA may sue to delay boardroom bloodbath

Kevin Murphy, April 23, 2018, 09:02:40 (UTC), Domain Registries

auDA is thinking about taking its membership to court in order to delay a vote on the jobs of four of its directors.
The Australian ccTLD registry has also delayed further consideration of its policy to introduce direct, second-level registrations in .au until late 2019.
Both announcements came in the wake of a government review of the organization, which found it “no longer fit-for-purpose”.
auDA last week asked its members to agree to a postponement of the special general meeting, called for by a petition of more than 5% of its members, at which there would be votes on whether to fire the CEO, its chair, and two independent directors.
Under the law, auDA has to hold the SGM by June 7 at the latest, according to a letter (pdf) sent to members on Friday.
But auDA wants to delay the meeting until mid-September, at the earliest, to coincide with its regular Annual General Meeting.
If its members do not consent to the delay — it gave them a deadline of 4pm local time today, meaning responses would have to be drafted over the weekend — auDA said it “intends to apply for a court order… extending the time for calling the requested SGM”.
The delay is needed, auDA said, in order to give the organization the breathing space to start to implement the reforms called for by the government review.
The government wants the makeup of the auDA board substantially overhauled within a year to better reflect the stakeholder community and to ensure directors have the necessary skills and experience.
In response, auDA has told the government (pdf) that it agrees with the need for reform, but that it will not be able to hit its deadlines unlesss the SGM is delayed.
It also said calling the SGM on time would cost it somewhere in the region of AUD 70,000, based on the cost of a similar meeting last year.
auDA announced separately last week that it is delaying any more discussion on second-level registrations — something the reform campaigners largely are opposed to — “until the second half of 2019 at the earliest”.
Josh Rowe, coordinator of the Grumpier.com.au petitioners, said in his response that he found the request for the SGM delay “extremely disappointing”, adding:

auDA is at an important juncture following the Australian Government’s review. However, it is critical that people with the right skills and experience lead auDA through its reform.
Members have lost confidence in the auDA CEO, and the three auDA independent directors. They do not have the right skills and experience to lead auDA through its reform.

He noted that members do not have the resources to fight auDA in court.

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Comments (1)

  1. Jon says:
    April 26, 2018 at 11:50 am

    I’ve been a member of auDA since 1999.
    That request for postponement was received by my mail server (which is in Melbourne) at 15:48. It required a response by 16:00.
    It’s been very clear to me for some time that the current management of auDA wants rid of the membership.
    That’s seems like a strange strategy to me.
    jon

    Reply

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