When Good People Do Nothing
This centres on a unique community organisation called Anabranch Water (AW) that delivers water to around 40 landholders along the Anabranch River. The Anabranch Water pipeline and infrastructure was constructed in 2006-7, after a number of years of negotiation by a small group of landholders. I was vice chair of that small group called “Darling Anabranch Management Plan” (DAMP) and had a significant input into making sure that a very robust business was developed to provide water to the region for many years to come (more history on the website).
I was also part of the original board of AW and put my hand up to be chairman of that, the current chair was successful in that election and 18 years later he still holds that position. I left AW board in 2011 as my perspective wasn’t being listened to or respected and I had run out of energy, so that attitude has existed for a long time, I need to take some responsibility for not stopping it earlier.
I have kept an eye on the business of AW as it is very important to our grazing enterprise, though at times it has been very difficult as there is scant communication from the board, mostly only newsletters in every bill. Then I might look to quiz a board member as to where the board sat on various issues, without prying too much. This poor communication and lack of transparency has been a theme for a long time as well, I brought this clearly to the board’s attention in a letter sent to the board in February 2022, when I was unable to attend the delayed AGM.
When you add to the above the ongoing issue dividing the community about “who pays for E-flows”, where those landholders with the ability & licence to crop on floodplains, were being charged. I won’t bore you with too much detail, just to say that if this issue was actually discussed in a board room that respected all input, it would be thrown out very quickly. It is the board’s responsibility to make good decisions, not those based on popularity.
In early October 2024, three weeks prior to AW’s AGM, a document turned up via email to all landholders, saying “This is your last chance to have input”. This is a document that I’d never seen before, it was full of tracked changes, multi-colour writing and as it turned out it was supposed to be the Private Water Corporation Constitution that we were meant to vote on at the AGM (It needed 66% in favour to be passed). I then proceeded to ask a number of questions that I felt we all needed answers to in order to understand what we were voting for. I also spoke to the General Manager and explained that I felt it was very poorly explained just what the document was and what we were meant to do with it. I also went on to explain that the actual document had significant holes in it, didn’t even articulate the roles that AW did, they will need to be changed in the future. This again told a story of the lack of discussion and input that the board had on issues.
As I was going to be away for the AW AGM and after the shambles that had just happened with the release of the Private Water Corporation document, I felt compelled to write a letter to the board (see pic1). To which I received the below communication from the board chairman:
“Hi Gus thanks for your advice but i would think that someone who has operated NSW water infrastructure during a flood situation without permission from relevant authority to benefit them self is not the person to be instructing Anabranch Water on how to run their organisation.”
Probably the rudest, most ignorant reply I had received in many years, if the chairman knew the full story and had any idea how the river worked, he would know how inaccurate his reply was. The thing that made the chairman’s indiscretion worse is that not one person in the organisation took him to task about it or corrected him, everyone agreed. The cost of doing nothing.
I wrote this in reply:
“To the Anabranch Water Board,
I have allowed enough time to pass since the AGM and for me to reflect on this. After the effort that I put into my letter for me to receive such a rude and ignorant reply isn’t OK on any level. I made no suggestion that I was perfect and I made sure there was no issues levelled at individuals, it is all about improving Anabranch Water, as a shareholder I consider my input relevant. The fact that my input was dismissed due to the way the chairman feels about me makes the whole organisation of Anabranch Water very unprofessional. I can only assume that either the Chairman is a bully and nobody is allowed to challenge his view, or rude and ignorant are values shared by the whole organisation.
The attitude and the behaviour that you allow is what you accept and encourage, I consider the behaviour of Anabranch Water on this issue to be totally unacceptable. Anabranch Water was a great business, well set up and should be an organisation this region can be proud of, I certainly can’t say that about the current organisation.
There needs to be a significant cultural change so that shareholders will again feel they are well represented by the board. The board needs to make this change immediately, if they don’t then I will look to enforce change and it will be inflicted on the board, causing huge social upheaval, not something I take lightly.
I look forward to dealing with a changed Anabranch Water, one that takes the responsibility of respecting the views of its shareholders seriously and brings our great community together.
Yours Angus Whyte“
At the December meeting the AW Board dismissed my concerns, made no changes at all and the chairman said that “the comments came from him and not AW. Again, nobody in the organisation or importantly the board called this out, of course they came from the chair and because he didn’t take any responsibility, he will happily do it again, maybe next time to someone close to you? By the way this isn’t about me being offended, this is about the dreadful behaviour of the board, the lack of respect, lack of integrity, amongst other values.
After reviewing the letter I then sent the below back to the General Manager:
“As the letter shows no change on a number of the issues that I pointed out, my concerns haven’t been taken seriously and that means that now I’ll take control and drive change through Anabranch Water. I’m sure you would’ve no doubt discussed the implications of this happening and how it will impact on all board members, employees and contractors in Anabranch Water. The only certainty in the future for Anabranch Water is change, this is very serious and I’m sad that the board choose to not take any responsibility.
Cheers Gus“
When I reviewed my options for change, the best one that came up was for me to join the board and talk these issues through in the privacy of the boardroom, so in mid-January I applied and was nominated for one of the 3 vacant board roles (2 had been vacant for many years). While they first up accepted my nomination, AW didn’t know how to handle an unexpected nomination, they then opened up for nominations over the region and made me change the nomination date so it came into line with their process. That told me another story about the management of the organisation.
There were three vacant spots on the AW board and there were 4 nominations and I respect the fact that 3 new people have been elected to the board and I missed out. This means that the dirty laundry of AW is now aired in public, for all to view and express judgement on.
While the misconduct from the chairman is one thing (no question a sackable offence in many organisations), the apathy of all the other board members at the time and especially the General Manager really has let the community down. I should note that the attitude of the chair to make presenting a differing perspective difficult, means that opposing them very tough.
The General Manager (GM) is actually a large professional services firm and the person performing that role is an employee, that reflects very badly on them that the GM was unwilling to take leadership and any sort of responsibility in these issues. The board members, many are neighbours, friends, mates, they have just watched this happen, done nothing. As a wise man once said; “Bad things happen, when good people stand by and do nothing”
The board needs a total change of culture, that will involve a change of leadership (same chairman and GM for 18 yrs) and also some board members as those that are part of the problem are rarely part of the solution. I would recommend an independent chair to enable an improved culture to develop and to get this organisation back on the right path. When people are appointed to a board position, they have a very clear responsibility to put their perspective forward in a way so good decisions are made together as a board. Now might be a very good time for all board members to decide if they want to continue being spectators or start fulfilling their responsibilities to the community that needs them.
