A vicious battle for supremacy has waged for over a year at the Australian Domain Authority, which regulates and oversees the operation of the .au domain space. Last year, the chairman resigned on the eve of an EGM calling for his removal, followed by
several of his board. In April, police were called and
a PBB Advisory report was leaked showing lavish spending by some previous employees and directors. And last month, an EGM was held where a group of dissidents tried to oust the current board, headed by former KPMG senior partner (and Flagstaff Partners deputy chair) Chris Leptos, though Leptos and others managed to repel the push.
Now, Josh Rowe, a dissident former auDA director and entrepreneur who
sold his business to ANZ last year, has been forced to apologise for claiming auDA and its offers "engaged in criminal cartel conduct", in an ad running on page 9 of Friday's
Financial Review.
His dispute with auDA (well, the current one anyway) relates to the processing of 955 new member applications. AuDa's rebels argue the influx of new members, some of who appear to be based overseas, is highly suspicious, as they could be used to sway a key vote on a new constitution next month. It's speculated this new membership model could centralise power away from the rank-and-file. But auDA argues the new members meet all its constitutional requirements, and that it doesn't have the ability to decline them anyway. A board director, Timothy Connell, resigned this month over the highly charged issue. And another member has filed an FOI over the "membership irregularities".
In a review of the scandal-prone organisation
released this year, the Communications Department found auDA's membership model was "no longer fit-for-purpose". AuDa's board will try to change that model in September. But we doubt they'll get anywhere without a fight. "
