ONE of Australia’s richest and most powerful environment groups is in crisis following a toxic power struggle that has split the organisation amid claims of bullying, financial mismanagement and secret board meetings.
The Wilderness Society, which has grown rapidly in recent years and now has 45,000 members, is in disarray after 144 staff members signed a petition on Christmas Eve to dump executive director Alec Marr, one of the most influential figures in the environment movement.
The society, the biggest environment group founded in Australia, has built a reputation over 34 years for fighting to protect old-growth forests and stop land clearing. While the dispute centres on Mr Marr’s decisions and style of management, it is partly also a generational divide, with younger environmentalists disillusioned with old-style campaigning and unwillingness to take risks after forestry giant Gunns sued the organisation over protests in Tasmania’s forests.
Other environment groups are watching with dismay, as environmental issues are likely to be critical in both the Victorian and national elections this year.
Disillusioned staff and long-term members of the Wilderness Society have called a meeting in Melbourne on February 13 in an attempt to remove Mr Marr and his board. In a written appeal to members to ”Help Save the Wilderness Society”, the meeting organisers claimed that ”high staff turnover, bullying behaviour towards staff and a failure to deliver a powerful national campaign agenda are all issues of concern”.
