13 August 2021

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Video transcript

Hello Brethren,

There are many great and encouraging  things happening in Freemasons Victoria.

However, sometimes in an organisation of 7,600 men, there are incidents of misbehaviour, and leaders are charged with the responsibility of protecting the organisation from bad actions.

Under my authority as Grand Master today, a document explaining some of the bad behaviour has been published and distributed. Grand Lodge has not embellished, we have let the emails of members – in their own words – tell their stories.

You might be wondering- what has this to do with me?

Well, when a group wants to operate in the shadows; conspires to destabilise our great fraternity; deliberately and cynically spread lies and misinformation; conspires to distribute anonymous emails to Lodge Secretaries for further distribution and wants to operate outside existing procedures- and, quite frankly, ignore endeavours at cooperation- i had no choice but to take action.

I constantly remind myself- The behaviour you walk past is the behaviour you accept” We must all have the moral courage to stand up and say this this is unacceptable.

I want to thank the many members who have already sent messages of support and encouragement. To the handful of people who want to sponsor mischief and trouble, let me make it abundantly clear: “Freemasons Victoria is not for you.”

The Grand Secretary has already received a resignation today from one of the shamed parties. That member has taken the proper course.

All that said, we have lots of work to do in the quarry. Let's return now to the important work at hand.

Thank you for watching.

I'm Richard Elkington.

Bye for now.