Equestrian Victoria response to Herald Sun Article, 10 April 2021

Like many of you we were dismayed to read the article in today's Herald Sun (10 April 2021) and want to assure you, our members, that sexual violence and harassment has no place in equestrian sport.

We also want to assure you that EV takes these matters extremely seriously and that the EV Board and management are committed to providing a safe environment for our members, volunteers and staff.

At its March Meeting the Equestrian Victoria Board considered a draft “Criminal Conviction Policy” which is currently being finalised by the Equestrian Victoria Risk Committee, however, the draft can be found online HERE.

If members would like to provide feedback on the draft policy you can do so here: [email protected]

As an organisation we have been working hard to elevate our organisation, however, it is clear we need to continue to live up to our values of professionalism, integrity, transparency and respect if we are to improve the culture of our organisation.

To this end Equestrian Victoria will be engaging an independent third party to review our member policies and practices and to provide the Equestrian Victoria Board, Discipline Committees and Staff with appropriate training.

As the matters referred to in the article are currently before the courts, Equestrian Victoria will not comment further on that process.

Matthew Brown
Chief Executive Officer