Sydney community station Hawkesbury Radio has begun the formal process of expelling a member, but it has divided the station and made the process very public.
In an email message, copied widely to local members and political party leaders, a supporter of the member being expelled argues that the process denies natural justice.
This Tuesday, a special general meeting will vote on whether John Bryant should be expelled from the station. Another member, John Kearnes, in his email, asks the question “what crimes has he committed?”
Hawkesbury Radio board members have declined to comment in detail before the meeting is held this week, but board secretary Yvonne Bartle did respond to radioinfo’s enquiry about the matter, saying:
“You may not be aware that we have had correspondence with a member over 3 years which has culminated in the action being taken by the Board at this time.
Please understand that to discuss in public a matter ahead of the members meeting, on a matter which is currently before the members, would contravenes good meeting practice and could be judged as inappropriate by our members.
The Board may well have a lot more to say after the meeting and members have had their chance to decide.”
The original email from John Bryant reads:
Hello there,
The Board of a community radio station that I have been a Member of for over 15 years now, Hawkesbury Radio 89.9 FM (2VTR-FM), located in the Hawkesbury area of north-west Sydney, have called a Special General Meeting of the Members for 7pm on Tuesday night 16th July 2013, to be held at the Tebbutt Room of the Deerubbin Centre in Windsor, to consider a Special Resolution to expel a Member, one Mr John Bryant.
You would be forgiven if you were to ask, what crimes has the Member, Mr John Bryant committed, that require his possible expulsion as a unpaid volunteer at a community organisation? Who has he murdered? Sexually assaulted?
At this stage, I am unable to answer that very basic question, as the Board has not supplied any information as to the charges/allegations laid against Mr John Bryant.
Mr John Bryant was suspended by the Board from his on-air programme late last year without being given any reason(s) as to why. I am lead to believe, that even at this stage of 2013, he has still not been given any reason(s) for his suspension.
Ones first reaction to this total denial of what the average person in the street would consider Natural Justice, is just how ”Un-Australian” can you get?
Perhaps his ”crimes” are that he had the nerve to ask questions seeking information from the Board that every Member is entitled to ask.
Questions regarding financial statements, where was the money being spent, membership numbers, radio licence renewal application answers & such like subjects. Basic questions that should be freely available to each & every Member of any community organisation.
Not so, if this particular Special Resolution is to be taken to be believed.
Speak up, ask questions & you run the risk of not only be suspended but also the likelihood of being expelled.
Try & see if you can become a Member of this organisation & see how far you get. If you are viewed as being even remotely possibly opposed to the Board & your Membership application is rejected, without any reason given. You have only to ask the local elected Members of Parliament or Council to find that out.
If on the other hand, you look like being a supporter of the Board, then your Membership is accepted without question.
I could go on & on here about what is happening at this community station, which over 60 members would confirm, but it appears that NO ONE in ANY position of authority in this country, be they State or Federal departments, will listen.
They just wipe their hands of the matter. It is just too hard for them. They just don’t want to know & plainly they don’t care.
They are tooth-less tigers.
Well, it is time that someone DID do something about correcting this totally unacceptable situation & that is what I am doing here.
I personally have had the threat of suspension thrown at me by a Board Director.
The honest, hard working Members of this Community radio station need your help.
If you know someone, ANYONE, who can help us, then we ask you to contact them & ask them for their help.
Your local State/Federal MP’s, your local paper or national paper, the ”Alan Jones/Ray Hardley’s” of this world.
This ”Un-Australian” situation cannot be allowed to continue on any longer & it needs to be resolved, NOW.
Not next week or next month, NOW.
Regards
John Kearnes
radioinfo will bring you an update on the meeting later this week.
Does this have anything to do with the allegation that a member of Hawkesbury Radio (not necessarily John Bryant) has spent $14,000 of station funds on Kentucky Fried Chicken?
That rumour has been doing the rounds of community radio throughout Sydney for several months now.
No wonder members are asking questions of the Board about their financial accounts.
And it might also be useful if ACMA took this opportunity to look into the "community inclusiveness" of this station. Unless you want to run an English speaking, music based programme, you've got no chance of being heard on air in the Hawkesbury. Hardly representative of the makeup of the local community.
Could somebody please translate what Adam McGrath said.
Welcome to community radio where such actions and activities are all too common. It's just the nature of the beast although boards and committees do change over time.
Did an Anonymous commenter just call another anonymous commenter (Chicken Man) a coward for not disclosing their name?
Welcome to the internet, Anonymous.
This board at Hawkesbury Radio, most of them have been there for well over ten years they will do anything to stay in power including dismissing memberships. If you speak out then you are out. They totally need investigating.
Looking down the list of contributors to this conversation, it's obvious that only Adam McGrath has used his real name.
As for me being a coward, not so. I just choose not to give anyone at Hawkesbury Radio the satisfaction of knowing who I am.
When ACMA brings on their investigation into the Hawkesbury Radio license, as they surely will, you might see me in the guise of an alternate applicant, prepared to bring professionalism and community inclusiveness to the Hawkesbury.
And I notice that nobody has refuted the rumour of the $14,000 of station funds spent on KFC .....