As a man from the shed I would like to argue that the men’s shed should be democratic in government.

o At present, Dubbo is the only one of 1100 sheds that does not have a democratically-elected management committee, 1100 sheds, all democratically run, cannot be wrong.

o It is very desirable the shed be affiliated with the Australian Men’s Shed Association (AMSA). To be legitimately affiliated with AMSA a shed must hold to democratic government. AMSA has a constitution based upon the model constitution of the Department of Fair Trading and to be legitimate members of AMSA, sheds must adhere to this constitution. If a shed has a democratic form of government it can legitimately belong to AMSA.

o When a shed is democratic in governance it can determine its own code of conduct. If it is not democratic it cannot determine its code of conduct. In this instance the ruling body may hold a code of conduct which is not acceptable to the men of the shed.

o When a shed is democratically run it can carry out discipline of members or leaders if the need arises. However if the shed is not democratically run the shed will not have any power to carry out discipline. We have already seen Emmanuel Care dragging the chain in this area.

o We have already seen for five years, government by an outside authority tried, and it does not work. You might reply, “Oh everything went beautifully for five years but now we have hassles, let’s go back to the old system.” - I will reply, by way of illustration, by pointing to the truck driver who left a detonator on the floor of his truck. Nothing happened for a long time, but one day he stepped on the detonator and it blew his foot off. The governance of the Dubbo shed, under Emmanuel Care, has been like a detonator, it has been an accident waiting to happen.

o Why the Men’s Shed should be democratically run is, democratic government allows the men of the shed to elect their own officers. How many elections of officers has the shed had in the past five years? None. We need a government which is the government of the shed by the shed for the shed.

o Democratic government allows the shed to have its own AGM and members meetings. How many AGMs has the shed had in the past five years? None.

o Democratic government allows self determination, and this is what the men of the shed want. We have 46 men who have been accepted as members of Dubbo Community Men’s Shed Inc because they want change. Democratic government is what the men want.

o Democratic government allows for inspection of books and records. As a general rule members of an association can inspect these. However members of the shed have not been able to do this over the past five years.

o Democratic government allows for accountability. One of the worst features of the present set up at the Men’s Shed is that the leaders are not accountable to the men of the shed, they are accountable to Emmanuel Care Inc.

 Don’t forget, this is what most of the men at the shed want.