By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
SOUTHERN Migrant and Refugee Centre’s new board is set to rub salt in the wounds of ousted “Australian professional” board members, accusing them of bringing the SMRC into disrepute.
Nine former board members, including two lawyers, a senior public servant, a former TAFE chief executive and an aged care firm’s chief executive, were deposed by a ‘Migrant Team’ ticket during a heated board spill in November.
Several of them, including public servant Helen Cester, who have stayed on as members, will face a disciplinary hearing which could result in their suspension or expulsion.
They stand accused by the new board, led by ongoing chairman Brian Oates, of distributing a pamphlet before the election that harmed the SMRC’s reputation.
An angry Ms Cester likened the upcoming hearing to a “kangaroo court”.
She said the pamphlet had been used to dispute Mr Oates’s pre-election claims that the previous board intended to remove migrants from the board, have only “Australian professionals”, and to become corporatised without any members.
“What we were trying to do was to defend ourselves against those allegations,” Ms Cester said.
She said Mr Oates, a UK migrant, was making the allegations to gain control of the board.
Some removed board members were “devastated” at how they were removed.
“They’ve given hours and hours of time. It gets tainted with an unhappy brush.”
Ms Cester said she was worried about the expertise removed from the board.
“The organisation is answering to people on the board who don’t understand how and why you do things.
“I doubt many people on the board have skills in strategic planning.”
In response, Mr Oates said that “going to the press” would only harm Ms Cester’s case at the disciplinary hearing.
“(The pamphlet) said I refused to talk to them and didn’t provide evidence,” Mr Oates said.
“Well, I didn’t provide evidence. There was a lot of talk about what they were doing so I didn’t bother to give them evidence, but I certainly met with them.
“The fact that it was distributed far and wide didn’t do the reputation of the SMRC any good.”
Mr Oates said the board, which includes migrants of Tamil, English, Albanian and Romanian backgrounds, would bring in an accountant and solicitor after “clearing the decks”.
“A lot of those people thought just them and their friends were capable of running the board,” Mr Oates said this week.
“It’s not hard for ordinary people to run a board.
“Some of these people with diplomas couldn’t make a decision to save themselves.”
