A government-funded organisation representing Tasmania's multicultural communities has been criticised for moving to dramatically reduce its board — and surveying members on the surprise proposal using only English.
The Multicultural Council of Tasmania's (MCOT) board has proposed changing the body's constitution to reduce board membership from 14 people to five.
The proposal was initiated in consultation with the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Intercultural Sports League spokesman and Diverse Tassie editor Raj Chopra is concerned the interests of Tasmania's growing diverse communities would not be well represented by a smaller board.
He said MCOT should model its board on the national peak body, the Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia (FECCA).
"If that change is coming then FECCA should be the one to say we need to reduce our board down," Mr Chopra said.
"If you're going to make it so secluded and bring it in a corporate way, it will actually take the right away from people to speak up."
MCOT member Mike Dutta said the surprise proposal was "dividing members".
"It is all about representation," Mr Dutta said.
"It is not a corporation … it is a body of different ethnic groups who come together to voice their opinion."
English-only survey on changes
Mr Chopra also questioned why the online survey about the proposal was only available in English.
"It's not been provided in different languages and a lot of migrant community members who are seniors, they don't even have an idea how to use the survey properly," he said.
MCOT receives $110,000 per year to represent the interests of the state's culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
It was once helmed by Hobart City Council Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds, who left in 2018.
Since then, the organisation has been headed by Suzanne Mallick and Ron Franks.
Dr Mallick was unfairly dismissed after raising concerns about the board and its operations and later reached a settlement with MCOT.
Mr Chopra and Sonia Caton also had short stints as interim chief executives.
Move defended by council leadership
Former NSW Liberal Democrat senator Duncan Spender took the reins as Chief Executive Officer in November.
He said the results of the survey — which is open until the end of this week — would be formally discussed on August 10th.
While acknowledging concerns about the proposed reduction in the board's size, Mr Spender defended the move.
"Other members have said it sounds like a good idea for a well-functioning board, in line with advice we get from organisations like the Australian Institute of Company Directors," he said.
"We'll see how all those views come together and proceed with whatever the membership want."
MCOT chairman Waqas Durrani said he was confident a reduced board would be able to adequately represent the body's members.
He encouraged community members worried about the proposed changes to get in touch with the body's staff.
"There's 177 countries in the world and based on that, each of the countries can't be represented on the board," he said.
"It's more about governance and the purpose of the board."
A State Government spokesperson said the government expected all peak bodies to operate effectively, and it was pleased MCOT has been working to improve governance practices.
