VFF to put constitutional changes to its February annual general meeting

The VFF will put the changes to a vote at its Melbourne annual general meeting, on February 20.

Members will be asked to vote on a resolution "to consider, and if thought fit, pass the updated constitution."

The notice of resolution was accompanied by an explanation of the proposed changes.

President Emma Germano said constitutional change had been flagged since 2021 and was something VFF commodity representatives had all acknowledged and agreed needed addressing.

"Since July this year, VFF Members have had many opportunities to have their say, including webinars, surveys, submissions and forums throughout Victoria," Ms Germano said.

"Our job is to balance some polar opposite feedback from members who engaged in good faith, as we as filter out resistance and negativity from those who seek to derail the change process for purely political reasons.

"The constitution we are putting before the members is reasoned and sound and will serve the organisation into the future."

But former United Dairyfarmers of Victoria president Mark Billing, Colac, who is still a VFF member, said while the constitution did need modernisation, the organisation's process to change it was "flawed.

"There was no consultation or engagement for members, prior to the first draft being put out," Mr Billing said.

"Because there is a raft of changes, and the timeline for feedback is quite short - particularly this round that was ridiculously short - it doesn't provide an opportunity to fully understand what the board is trying to achieve."

It comes as Federal Court judge Justice Jonathon Beach is set to bring down his ruling on whether an extraordinary general meeting should be held to remove the VFF president and vice president.

Justice Beach will announce his ruling on the EGM on Wednesday afternoon.

The dissatisfied members group sought the interlocutory injunction, asking the court to issue a "requisition" to compel the VFF to hold the meeting.

Mr Billing said there was "no doubt" the VFF leadership had wanted to modernise the constitution, which was important to bring it up to date.

But he said changes diluting the role of the commodity groups were "problematic.

"It is a federation, after all." he said.

"From what I understand of the changes, they are turning the dial too far towards a corporate model," he said.

There were a number of examples where that had not worked, particularly when it came to the CFA, he said.

"It should have been a minimum 18-month process to go out and find out what the membership was concerned about - it feels like it has been rushed," he said.

"Is the VFF leadership truly looking for consultation, or are they just trying to push through a 'change' agenda?"

And current UDV president Bernie Free, Winslow, said it appeared not many people had seen the final draft.

He said he had told Ms Germano she needed to bring members along - "it's a membership based organisation and we need to get them to agree to anything we want to do.

"You can't railroad this sort of stuff, especially when its such a dramatic change."

He said there was nothing wrong with showing good leadership and delaying the process.

"There is nothing stopping you from going back and saying 'we need to consult our members more' - that would be good practice and show you were listening to the members," he said.

Egg Group president Meg Parkinson, Leongatha, said while the VFF had to hold an AGM, it didn't have to change the constitution at the same time.

She said she had only seen drafts of the constitution, not the one to be put to the AGM.

"Basically, they want to remove the authority of the commodities, take away the ability to run branch meetings by setting a quorum so high you would never get one, and generally turn the VFF into a corporation, rather than a member-based organisation," Ms Parkinson said.

No copy of the proposed constitution was available at recent VFF "roadshow" meetings around the state "and it was hardly talked about," she said.

"Members expect there will be a proper process of consultation, which is only reasonable.

"It's what a member organisation should do."

In August, the heads of five of the seven Victorian Farmers Federation commodity councils called for a halt to planned controversial changes to the organisation's constitution.

The presidents of the United Dairyfarmers of Victoria, grains, eggs, pigs and livestock groups signed a letter, calling for proposed constitutional changes to be paused.

The chicken meat and horticulture groups did not join in endorsing the call.

Ms Parkinson said the VFF ignored the letter.

Grains Group president Craig Henderson, Berriwillock, agreed the process had been rushed, and he hadn't seen the final draft or follow up from a survey on the constitution.

He said it was "a desperate effort" to get changes to the constitution.

"This is a member's organisation, not a one-or-two member organisation," Mr Henderson said.

"It's stripping the commodities, it's a socialist approach - it's an attempt to socialise the organisation and centralise power, taking it away from VFF members."

He said there was no consultation on the first draft, send to members, before it went out.

"It was instructed wholly and solely by (president) Emma Germano and a waste of money," he said.

"Why should we be changing the constitution, when the current leader doesn't follow the one we already have?"

Livestock Group president Scott Young, Ballan, said the VFF was likely to get the final version of the constitution out, in time for the AGM.

"There will be a specific time it has to come out, before the meeting, I would imagine," Mr Young said.

"Then it's up to the members to vote on it, once the see the final version, and whether they want to agree to those changes, or not."

He declined to comment further, until he saw the final version of the constitution.