Federal Court adjourns to decide Victorian Farmers' Federation leadership drama

The Federal Court has heard final submissions from lawyers from both camps on whether the state's farm lobby group must hold an extraordinary general meeting, where motions to spill leadership positions would be presented.

Federal Court's Justice Jonathon Beach will resolve the long-running argument on whether the VFF is legally obliged to hold an extraordinary general meeting.

Justice Beach also heard from lawyers on whether motions to spill leadership positions would be presented if the EGM was to be called.

Rupanyup graingrower Andrew Weidemann is one of three former Grains Group presidents leading the push for an EGM to oust the VFF directors, president Emma Germano and vice-president Danyel Cuccinotta.

Lawyers for the group told Justice Beach the required number of members had signed documents required to trigger the EGM to be called this year.

Earlier in the week, the group sought the interlocutory injunction, asking the court to issue a "requisition" to compel the VFF to hold the meeting.

An interlocutory injunction is a court order to compel or prevent a party from doing certain things, pending the final determination of the case.

Justice Beach requested more information from both parties, adjourning the hearing until today (Friday).

He has now adjourned the hearing and reserved his decision for a future date.

The upset between the Grains Group and parent organisation can mostlybe traced back to a decision by the VFF's board earlier in the year to liquidate the Grains Group's almost $10 million nest egg to pay down organisational debt.

The Grains Group won a sizeable stake in VicGrain after the government's sale of the Grain Elevators Board in 1996.

Then followed a series of calls for the VFF leadership to stand down and a meeting to be called, and members became increasing frustrated as they were refused.

The court was told 254 members had signed legal documents calling for the EGM under a statutory notice.

It was also told more than 100 signatures are necessary under the VFF constitution to call the EGM.

The Federal Court was called on to decide the issue.

Much of the hearing over this week involved legal argument around the validity of resolutions calling for the removal of the president and vice president, both from their positions and as directors.

There are four resolutions in the petition, to be put to a future EGM, to remove Ms Germano and Ms Cucinotta and replace them with Paul Weller and western Victorian livestock producer Georgina Gubbins.

For Mr Weidemann, Tim Walker KC told the court the predominant issue, at dispute, was the validity of the "requisition" to hold the EGM to remove the current board.

"There was really no explanation as to why the requisition was rejected," Mr Walker said.

The VFF has previously described the second request for an EGM to oust the president and vice-president as "defective."

The VFF's counsel Hamish Austin, KC, continued to tell the court the proposed resolutions could not be put to members.

"A resolution to remove them as president and vice-president cannot be passed by members at a general meeting - no-one can, they have a term that lasts for two years; it's not for life," he said.

"There is no power, vested to remove them.

"What we can't have is the democratic process that exists, that elected them, be subverted by some reading that grants the power to someone else to remove them."

Mr Austin said the only way the president and vice president could be removed would by democratic process.

No date has yet been given on when Justice Beach would release his decision.