CLUBS and hobby groups on the Mornington Peninsula are on notice to understand their obligations to members and volunteers after a recreational club was ordered to apologise and undergo training.
At a hearing before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal in February the Southern Peninsula Woodworkers Committee and five respondents were ordered to apologise to club volunteer Syd Johnson. They were also ordered to undertake training in diversity and inclusion by no later than end of June.
As part of the outcome, Johnson agreed to not take any other legal action pertaining to the matter and all action against the club as the first respondent was withdrawn. It is believed Johnson, who is of Indian/Anglo background, had made a complaint against the club after believing he was being discriminated against. The agreement that had to be signed by all parties included an apology for behaviours and actions that Johnson had perceived as discriminatory and had caused him stress.
In another case that went before the RSL state tribunal on 19 July last year, some members of another peninsula club were accused of not following proper processes and procedures in respect to various disciplinary hearings.
As told to The News, the case involved accusations of illegal distribution of committee documents and bad behaviour towards club members and volunteers. It also involved seven members being found guilty of conduct unbecoming and suspended for three months by a three-person committee.
The members, some of whom claimed to not have been given a report of the findings due to committee minutes being confidential, took the matter to the tribunal, which upheld their appeal. The suspensions were overturned. and there was no apology. At least 18 members resigned shortly after. One affected volunteer said she believed bullying and “toxic behaviour” was commonplace in some clubs on the peninsula. “Some of these people running clubs have never been pulled up about their behaviour before, they have got away with it for a long time,” she said.
The volunteer said she believed women in particular had been treated poorly at the club.
Researchers from Murdoch University and Edith Cowan University in 2015 surveyed 136 volunteers from a range of organisations and found one third indicated they had been subject to bullying while working as volunteers. Bullying included paid staff bullying volunteers, volunteers bullying other volunteers and volunteers bullying paid staff.
First published in the Mornington News – 5th March 2024
