RESTRUCTURE

• The objective is to have a simple membership structure, with an affordable base level membership to cater for different types of member (for example Competitor, Junior, Professional, Supporter)
• Additional fees would then apply depending on uptake of different activities within the different disciplines.
• These additional fees still will meet the principle of affordability and will not discourage partaking in multiple disciplines.

• Until the Voluntary Administration, the state branches had total control over Equestrian Australia.  At the Voluntary Administration, approximately 2400 members voted to support one member one vote, giving voting control to the individual members. The state branches resisted this and introduced Clause 40 into the Constitution so that for any constitutional change, five (5) branches (the boards not the members) had to support the change. Currently two branch boards can block change – even if the majority of the members support the change.
• Equestrian Australia supports each individual member having equal voting rights. Unfortunately, the question at the upcoming Special General Meeting (SGM) relates to the NT branch vote as well as the individual members and gives the branch additional rights under clause 40 of the Constitution that the individual members do not have (otherwise known as the ‘veto’ clause).
• This ‘differential’ voting power is not democratic and means that a Delegate of the State Branch votes for a Special Resolution on behalf of all of their members. The current Constitution does not outline how the Delegate’s vote is to be determined meaning EA has no visibility on if the vote is representative of the Branch’s membership’s views. If the SGM motion purely related to individual members’ rights EA would be in support.
• Under proposed future constitutional changes, EA will ask members to vote to give every member, whatever type, equal voting rights, and every member, regardless of where they reside in Australia will have equal rights.

• Under the EA Constitution adopted by the state branches in 2020, ENT is not recognised as a branch. Participating Membership of EA comes about by being a member of a Constitutionally recognised branch. EA recognises this is unjust and wants ALL members to have equal rights, to attend meetings, vote and participate. Under the proposed future model, all members will have equal voting rights.
• This could have been righted at the Voluntary Administration but the State branches at the time chose not to grant branch status to ENT.
  Currently, there are two categories of membership: Branch members, being NSW, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia and Participating Members, which includes individuals who are members of the Branches, as well as legal entities such as clubs and associations.

• As stated above in the above FAQ, Equestrian Australia supports each individual member having equal voting rights. Unfortunately, the question at the upcoming Special General Meeting (SGM) relates to the NT branch vote as well as the individual members and gives the branch additional rights under clause 40 of the Constitution that the individual members do not have (otherwise known as the ‘veto’ clause).
• This ‘differential’ voting power is not democratic and means that a Delegate of the State Branch votes for a Special Resolution on behalf of all of their members. The current Constitution does not outline how the Delegate’s vote is to be determined meaning EA has no visibility on if the vote is representative of the Branch’s membership’s views. If the SGM motion purely related to individual members’ rights EA would be in support.
• Under proposed future constitutional changes, EA will ask members to vote to give every member, whatever type, equal voting rights, and every member, regardless of where they reside in Australia will have equal rights.

ENT was a branch when EA was originally established but gave this up to be administered by Equestrian Queensland. While ENT later wished to regain branch status, the other state branches chose not to grant this.

The branches have additional voting powers under Clause 40 which gives them the power to block constitutional change, even if the majority of Participating Members support that change. Equestrian Australia proposes constitutional changes to give each member an equal vote.

• The key is that each discipline committee will operate like a separate business unit with autonomy, a budget, and resources to run their own sport. EA will not be involved in running the disciplines; the Discipline Committees will work independently with the state and regional committees and clubs to deliver the sport at grass roots levels. This includes managing the Discipline budget, setting calendars, training officials, running squads and high-performance programs and developing strategies and marketing progams.
• EA will provide the services in the background that ALL disciplines need – the database, financials systems, general communications, interaction with the FEI and Australian Sports Commission, memberships and horse registrations.There will be a legal and constitutional framework to ensure this along with an agreed formula to ensure that funds flow to the disciplines to run the sports.

The principle is that the base level of fee will cover the ‘overheads’ or shared services and insurance, and then the balance will go to the disciplines to operate each sport.

Under the EA Constitution, ENT residents sign up for membership of and are administered as members of Equestrian Queensland (as ACT residents do with ENSW) to receive Participating Member status. Due to an historical anomaly this has not happened. ENT members are nonetheless included in the database as members, for purposes such as competition licences and registering horses. The insurance component of the EA levy is passed directly to the insurance company and the EA component contributes to functions such as training officials, database management, safety and integrity.

Since the Voluntary Administration in 2020, there has been significant formal and informal consultation.This includes
the establishment of the Strategic Working Group which reviewed and benchmarked a number of possible models from equestrian sports across the globe, as well as other sports;
a roadshow with the EA Board members travelling to state branches and meeting with state branch boards, committees and stakeholders December 2022 through Feb 2023;
the annual Strategic Forum in December 2023 with 50 plus invitees from branches, disciplines and other key stakeholders (complete invite list included all state chairs, state CEOs, national discipline committee chairs, high performance committee members, and other stakeholders such as government representatives); and
hundreds, (maybe thousands!), of informal conversations.

At the Strategic forum the group workshopped Member fee model principles and the Roles and Responsibilities of the Discipline Committees. That feedback has been incorporated into the proposed model.

Our membership categories and cost structure will be designed to recognise and reflect the different levels of participation a member may wish to have. This can distinguish between those who have a competitive focus and those whose main activities include training and coaching activities with their horses to encourage as many people as possible to see a benefit in and take up EA membership.In all cases, there will be insurance cover provided to ensure our members are protected.

Horse registrations will be done on a national basis, with a consistent fee across the country for all horses. We anticipate the ‘base’ registration will remain as the entry level, with horses that progress to higher levels then requiring full registration. The new digital platform will facilitate easy registration and allow functions such as transfers to be done online with minimal fuss.

We anticipate that performance levies will be charged on a user pays approach. The levies will go to the discipline involved to fund participation, growth and strategy, and other functions such as training of officials and judges. There will be the opportunity to purchase a ‘season pass’, for someone who plans to compete regularly, or a ‘pay per ride’ pass where a member may wish to participate infrequently or in a number of disciplines.

• Different levels of membership will offer different membership benefits and the fee structure will reflect this.
• Contributing factors to include the number (and level) of events a member participates in and the insurance cover required, with the objective being to ensure equity across membership categories.

For those members who wish to participate in more than one discipline, we anticipate that they would nominate their ‘first’ sport and then pay a reduced levy to any subsequent sports, or participate in a ‘pay per ride’ approach will be possible with the new technology platform.

• The main reason for undertaking this reform and restructure is to deliver resources and support to the committees and clubs that deliver the sport at grass roots level without duplication in services.
• There is no intention to centralise delivery of events. The goal is to redeploy dollars and resources by reducing duplication and getting them into the hands of those who run events and competitions.
• We expect that the additional resources will free up time for volunteers and also give clubs and organising committees direct funds to invest in their events.

Yes! Every service duplicated is money and resources that is not getting to the grass roots. However, at present we have different structures in each state all delivering different services. To move to a shared services model requires shifting skills and resources so that member needs are met consistently and efficiently.  The safety and integrity services are already examples of shared services currently operating effectively. The tender to deliver a new technology platform will further enable streamlining services.

The Boards of Equestrian South Australia and Equestrian Australia are collaborating because they want to identify and implement efficiencies in operations so that funds can be diverted to the clubs and organising committees to run the sports. At present, there are levels of duplication in our organisations (for example, multiple finance functions, communications processes, membership processing functions and management functions) and by streamlining these, savings can go directly to the different sports to invest in grass roots activities.

Especially for states with smaller membership populations members will be able to access a wider range of services and efficiencies by being part of a more streamlined organisation. As we implement our improved IT systems, we will also eliminate a lot of manual processes that currently take place (such as entry checks). The benefits of these improvements will be available to every member in every state.

Once we have established National Discipline Committees with budgets and clear accountabilities, these will be tasked with providing service and support to the local committees and clubs, wherever they may be, and we are mindful that smaller or more remote areas (as well as disciplines with fewer participants) be looked after in this process.

• The Equestrian Australia board has committed that ALL funds that have been raised in a particular state will stay in that state for the benefit of members in that state.
• An appropriate structure will be put in place to ensure these funds are protected and entrusted to the state.
• How these are acquitted will be determined by each branch representative.

• Equestrian Australia recognises the importance of having a network of top-class facilities across the country to enable participation and growth of the sports.Indeed we need more facilities to meet the demands of the sport
• The new structure will have a focus to ensure that these are managed and funded to enable events and competitions all year around, wherever members may be, and there will be ongoing consultation with stakeholders, as well as getting advice to ensure this is done in the best interest of all members.
• There are currently different management structures in place for these entities which must be taken into account.

• EA currently contributes significantly to branches and some organising committees for key events and activities.  This will continue via the discipline committee structure.
• We have advice from state and territory governments that the proposed restructure will not place state funding at risk.
• State funding is typically granted for initiatives that grow participation or bring major events to a state.  The goal of the restructure is to do more of this.
• Evidence from other sports is that they have actually received more state funding after making these changes

• It is true that the mix of roles will be different, but we need skilled staff to run our sport. The key functions will still exist and we will still need to have people deliver them, so it is likely that there will be positions for staff who wish to transition to the new structure.
• There will also be some new roles which will provide interesting opportunities, such as sponsorship and grants management, and key roles within disciplines.
• Technology will also mean that some non-value add functions, such as entry checking, will no longer be required, so staff time can be diverted to more constructive functions.

• Local delivery requires that there will always be some staff to support it.  We are committed to having staff where they are needed to deliver the sport – there may even be more staff in some areas or dedicated functions.
• For some functions such as membership and registration, much of this is already done electronically and the new digital platform will further enable this.
• What we will see is that those services that everyone needs may in future be delivered from a different location.

• We recognise that the role of the Discipline Committees nationally will expand, and that in future they will need resources and staff to support what they do.
• Clear Charters will be developed to ensure clarity on roles and responsibilities.
• By redeploying staff and resources to the discipline committees they will be able to support the sports better.
• Our future budgets are including provisions for these roles, which will be filled once costs can be shifted from other areas.

• EA understands this need and will work with the smaller states to design a structure that meets this need.
• National discipline committees that are better resourced will also be able to assist the disciplines at the local level.

The change will be implemented in stages:

Stage One – shared services ongoing or partly complete

Integrity  COMPLETE
Safety  COMPLETE
IT Technology Platform – Tender open
Finance – timeline to be agreed
Marketing – timeline to be agreed

Stage Two – create new structure around National Discipline Committees

EOIs for new committee members now open
Drafting of structures and charters commenced

Stage Three – transition to new membership categories

Design of new categories and fees to commence November 2024
Legal and constitutional change
Drafting of revised constitution – commence Feb 2025
Circulate for review – May 2025
Call for vote at a special general meeting to adopt new constitution – Q3 2025

.