Brett Gibbs had this on his instagram story. Not sure where he got it from but probably an email to NZPL members as they are voting on whether to stay in the IPF or shift to the new WP fed. It simplifies and explains why all this IPF/PA/WP/APU bullshit happened in the first place.
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A message from the NZPF president regarding the affiliation for 2019 onwards - What do you think?
"Dear Federation Members
Firstly, let me apologise for not getting this out sooner, although other factors did stop me before now. On the 24 August, at the AGM, the members present will be faced with a decision to make, quite possibly the most difficult decision ever faced with far reaching implications. The NEC’s job is not to lobby but to provide you with information to make an informed decision.
What is this decision? To put simply, do we affiliate with a new International Federation called World Powerlifting or stay with the current one, which we have for 38 years, the International Powerlifting Federation.
The New Zealand Powerlifting Federation is owned by its members, the NEC is the body that makes decisions on a day to day basis on your behalf, managing the Federations interests and promoting the sport. Its job is to ensure any opportunities are presented to members to improve the enjoyment of the sport, keep costs down and keep a level playing field so all lifters are given an equal opportunity to compete both in NZ and overseas.
So why is there a new Federation out there?
To answer this question, some background is needed. As you know, much publicity has been made of the expulsion of Mr Robert Wilks, the CEO of Powerlifting Australia from the IPF as a member, the ADC (Anti-Doping Committee) Chairman, and the Oceania Executive Committee member. In addition, Powerlifting Australia and the Oceania Powerlifting Federation, which comprises of ten nations, including NZ were also excluded although the individual nations kept their IPF membership.
To keep it short, Mr Wilks, as the head of the ADC, was focusing on testing a particular group of Nations that had a poor record of positive doping. The IPF believed he was unfairly targeting these Nations. A dispute broke out, things got very personal and Mr Wilks resigned these roles. This was in the latter part of 2015.
Mr Wilks, believing the matter should be pursued in the interests of the Nations that do conduct independent testing, raised the subject along with some others including behaviour by some members of the EC, to the Disciplinary Committee, the Appeals Committee and finally to the Court of Arbitration of Sport. The IPF, feeling aggrieved by the attacks, took the action of banning Mr Wilks in the IPF Congress of 2017. As the CAS action included submissions from PA and the OPF, they were banned as well.
The court action, currently being reviewed through the courts of Luxembourg, is still pending and if successful would require the IPF to re-instate Mr Wilks, PA and OPF. There is a lot more detail but I must err on the side of caution.
This left PA without an international body, and the rest of the Oceania Nations without a Regional Federation. The unfortunate collateral damage is a large number of lifters in PA were affected by this dispute without really knowing why. The Oceania Nations had no governing regional board so were largely left rudderless. NZ and PA subsidise the IPF fees for the OPF Nations as many can’t afford the 400E each year. On top of this the IPF tried to levy a 3000E doping fee on Oceania. If paid, this would have had to be mostly paid by NZ and PA. In addition the current OPF Board provides technical support to the Pacific Games.
The general feeling is the IPF were constructively trying to force the OPF out. In 2016 I made an amendment to the OPF constitution, which had I not, would have meant we would probably be part of Asia by now.
As it is, we are unable to participate in the Oceania’s this year, and possibly for the next one. The Oceania Federation still exists but is part of World Powerlifting now.
So, the outcome of all of this is a band of Nation’s decided to get together and essentially start again. The founding Nations are obviously PA, a collection of eleven countries under the banner of 100% raw in the US, some of the Oceania nations, and at least another dozen from Asia including China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand and Iran.
The main differences are, a drug testing regime that all nations must follow, a new rule book that does away with the hated approved list, an additional women’s class ( yes ladies, that’s means eight), masters classes in 5 year increments, the removal of the ridiculous three nations referee rule (this has cost NZ $0000 of dollars in flying and accommodating referees). The rule book is very similar but much simplified.
Equipment will based on specs rather than brand, however a standard will still need to be followed.
The emphasis is trying to get the costs down for lifters, making the sport more accessible and local; and doping controls strictly applied.
The important thing to remember—no changes in the way NZPF is run.
There has been a number of suggestions regarding the AGM and the way it is run.
Proxy’s-these are not allowed and the reason is logistical. If a remit is presented, it must be seconded to be discussed. During the discussion, amendments can be proposed and seconded and so on. So the original remit can eventually end up very different so proxies would be thrown out.
Live streaming- this is fine if someone wants to organise it. But not remote interaction, observation only.
Changing the constitution- If you want to change anything in the constitution-this must go through the local association. Same for matters in general business from people who can’t attend. Use your delegate to bring up matters if you can’t attend. The reason we can’t accept remits from individuals is again logistics- we have 600 members and only so much time. Changes have to be made on the day and require a 2/3 majority.
What will happen at the meeting?
When we get to the section on remits, I will give a short presentation on the almost the same material here. Mr Robert Wilks will then go into more detail regarding the opportunities than WP can offer.
Then the General Secretary of the IPF, Mr Robert Keller will give a presentation on the benefits of staying with the IPF.
Members will be allowed to ask questions of either gentlemen. Then they will leave the meeting while we discuss the two options and eventually vote.
I hope this clarifies some of your concerns. See you at the meeting
Steve Lousich
NZPF President"