THE Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) has won a Federal Court case brought by displeased members to remove VFF’s leadership after allegations of poor financial management, communication, as well as a decline in membership.

The VFF was successful in arguing there was no need to remove their president Emma Germano and vice-president Danyel Cucinotta, after former VFF Grains Group president and Rupanyup farmer, Andrew Weidemann, led the legal challenge.

Justice Jonathan Beach dismissed the case in less than a minute, with Weidemann ordered to pay the defendant’s legal fees.

Weidemann had garnered more than 200 signatures from around 6000 VFF members to hold an extraordinary general meeting in the middle of this year in an attempt to overthrow the leadership, but they were rejected twice by the VFF.

The VFF board of directors said they welcomed the Federal Court of Australia’s overwhelming vote of confidence in the VFF’s governance processes following the recent ruling to side with the organisation.

“After months of distractions and considerable resource allocations that have diverted attention away from the real matters concerning the vast majority of Victorian famers, they now hope to be able to solely focus on standing up for farmers on the issues that matter most,” they said.

“Every member should have the right to consider the future of our organisation and participate meaningfully in the democratic principles of the VFF and that’s what we continue to do.

“As you know, the VFF is well-advanced on our path to renewal and setting up the organisation to ensure we are best placed to capitalise on the opportunities that await in the future.

“We look forward to continuing on this path and remain steadfast in delivering the renewal that the majority of VFF Members asked us to do.”