Perhaps you should get your facts clear. Lynne O’Brien was Sponsorship manager in 2004. Not as you claim when NMG folded (which is has never done).

Steph Sands shared the co-chair position with Mark Orr, the current President of ACON, and sat on the board with Marcus Bourget when the organisation declared a loss in 2005. The reasons why are well documented in the 2005 Annual Report.

There are many private companies who post losses in a financial year, and their directors remain.

If you believe that neither Mark, Marcus or Steph should not be allowed to be directors of community boards, then what a loss to the community that would have been.

And they wonder the community has lost faith in the organisation, and they have become so irrelevant.

It should not have been kept secret, either by the Board or the community newspaper.

The SSO failed its readership on this one.

Editor’s note: Ben, knowing is one thing, being able to prove is another. This is not New Idea you know.

See http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25157681-661,00.html

Well, as was communicated at the AGM, unbeknownst to people that weren’t there, NMG had to refund $30,000 for Joan’s performance debacle in Melbourne. If it wasn’t NMG’s fault, why were they responsible for paying the money back?

Anyonelse picking up on the constant lies and spin that NMG hope people forget with time?

Let’s be clear. Steph Sands came clean last night because there was no alternative. It was the right communication decision, but it was the only palatable one left. But let’s not canonise her for it.

NMG have done a good job of rebranding, rebuilding and marketing all that we know is great about our Mardi Gras. But marketing, particularly within the community, is no replacement for authenticity.

What the mostly re-elected board will have to overcome is a cynicism they’ve created and a goodwill they’ve lost. Next time they send us a survey, will we believe it’s genuine market research? Next time they cry, will we turn and look for the wolf?

The information you are quoting here Disgruntled, are the words of a journalist reporting something that he has been told by someone he knows. They are not claimed to be the words of the Board nor of any member from the Board. They are an idea; your attack of them suggests that you think that they are a bad idea. Did you raise them last night because if you did I certainly didn’t hear you.

(Last night the Board stated that mistakes were made on contracts because they were -˜afterall busy and only volunteers themselves’ -“ WELL SHOULDN’T THIS TELL THE BOARD to stop playing egotrips and looking after the Events, and leave that to the PROFESSIONAL being paid for it.)

The Board members have only ever acted as -˜Event Sponsors’ and I heard nothing last night nor did I read anything in the article which would suggest that the Board Members start to manage the events. Tony Knight quite clearly stated that he was glad that Katrina Martin was brought into the organisation to carry out those tasks and I hope she does hem properly.

(By their own admissions -“ mistakes were made because the Board was looking in the wrong place.
Create a new Board -“ done by AGM last night. But be a Board, not a group of little overseers.
Mike Smith -“ yes quite right, but really people or otherwise called members, obviously don’t care. If they did, the AGM would have had many more attendances than it did.)

I agree wholeheartedly Disgruntled and I hope that you will give this board all of your support and all of the feedback it needs to make sure it does the best job it can.

However, why now? They made the decision not to in order to protect sponsorship agreements, so wont this admission jeopardize that now?

So I’m gathering there’s no possible way to fix this? Mistake or not? What a shame.

The chair of the meeting treated people with questions with utter contempt.

John Howard could never say Sorry. Steph did, in her candidate speech, and then stood and took the hard questions, which she answered right to the edge of any commercially confidential issues.

The members were given the opportunity to instruct the Board regarding the key elements needing consultation before making decisions, and this was, rightly, voted down.

The Board is elected annually and we must put our faith in them to make the right decisions. One mistake does not take away from the incredible talent across all 8 Board members elected last night and we should support them, and our beloved Mardi Gras.