Grow Boating Australia sinking down under?
By IBI Magazine
Grow Boating Australia Ltd, the industry body established to promote boating in Australia, has been placed into administration. The company said in a statement that Melbourne chartered accountants Dye & Co Pty Ltd were appointed as administrators. The announcement last week took place several weeks after five members of the board abruptly resigned. Grow Boating Australia chairman Barry Jenkins said in the statement that an independent audit had revealed "several impediments and commitments" that Grow Boating Australia would be unable to honour. He added that the company had accumulated "substantial unauthorised debt and given undertakings" that it was unable to service. "Regrettably, this will slow the progress of the Grow Boating initiative," he said. "However, the directors, on behalf of the shareholders representing members of Australian marine industry associations, are committed to seeing the marketing element of the programme established as soon as possible." Jenkins told IBI that he could make no further comment on how the initiative might move forward. "It's regrettable that we had to take the action that we did," he said. "But I'm a very optimistic person, and believe that out of negatives always come positives." Last month, five members of the board of directors, including its chairman and treasurer, left the organisation in a dispute over its future direction and the appointment of additional directors. Board chairman Paul Phelan, treasurer David Hazlett and board members Wesley Moxey, John Temple and Greg Haines all resigned around the same time. A week later, James Wilson, executive director of Grow Boating Australia, also resigned. According to a source familiar with the situation, the board members resigned as a result of disputes over the mechanism to fund the association as well as the additional appointment of three other board members without unanimous consent from the board. The source explained that it worked out to be a struggle between board members representing the regional Boating Industry Associations (BIA) and members representing boat and engine manufacturers. The source asked to remain anonymous. Funded by AUS$100,000 in seed money, Grow Boating Australia had gained strong momentum during its first year. The association had developed a working website and was preparing to roll out its new marketing campaign. But the proposed mechanism to fund a full-blown marketing initiative — a surcharge on boats and motors — was opposed by a board member. That board member resigned, prompting the need for a replacement. The source said that, instead of proposing one replacement member, the BIA board members voted to extend the board by another three members, and named three other representatives from BIAs to the board. The change in the number of directors was allowed under the Grow Boating Australia constitution, but tilting the majority in favour of the BIAs was "announced very suddenly", according to the source. That prompted the other four board members to resign. The source said that the members representing industry felt that the regional trade associations, with a majority vote, would attempt to direct the entire process. He said that the industry members were not confident that a BIA-led initiative would result in a successful campaign. The source also added that industry members were taking a "wait and see" attitude to whether Grow Boating Australia would create a viable funding mechanism. But the current financial troubles of the association could make that even more difficult. Jenkins said he was not sure why the five board members resigned. "It's a choice that those guys made," Jenkins told IBI. "We gave them notice that we wanted to extend the board, which under the constitution we were allowed to do. But they didn't see it that way and chose to resign." The current directors of Grow Boating Australia are Jenkins and Doug Olding, who have been on the board since its inception, as well as recently elected directors George Bolton, David Heyes, and Gordon Howlett.
(2 September 2008)
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