A long-running barney over the performance of industry body Internet Australia appears to have ended with the decision of controversial executive director Laurie Patton, pictured, not to seek re-election to the board at the upcoming AGM.
Also going are chairwoman Anne Hurley and company secretary George Fong.
Superloop chief, Pipe founder and NextDC director Bevan Slattery appears to have played a major role in their decisions.
On Tuesday he e-mailed IA board directors, telling them the organisation was “fundamentally broken from a governance perspective” and that it needed to be either “cleaned out” or “wound up.”
He described IA as “an organisation completely broken from a governance perspective”.
Also influential were articles on the barney in the Weekend Australian, which suggested that Patton, an ALP member, was mirroring ALP policy; and an e-mail exchange between iiNet founder Michael Malone and the IA board.
Malone, now a company director with Superloop and NBN Co, described Patton as “a joke” and invited Patton to sue him. Within hours, Patton had announced his decision to stand down – so far no lawsuit, but one could be coming.
At issue have been Patton’s sometimes strident campaign against NBN Co’s use of fibre-to-the-node technology, a stance which appeared to reflect ALP policy.
