Craig Bingham to remain Chair of AusCycling as SGM motion defeated

Following years of frustration and several months of debate, Craig Bingham has been retained as AusCycling Chair following the vote at Thursday night’s contentious Special General Meeting.

Overseen by AusCycling Director Michael Smith AO, the virtual meeting resulted in a clear defeat for the motion to have Bingham removed.

With 265 votes for the motion and 621 against, the result fell far short of the required 50 per cent majority for the motion to succeed. 74 votes were abstentions.

In his opening statement, Michael Smith described the lead up to the SGM as ‘very difficult’ given the high emotions and vastly differing perspectives on the motions put forward.

Official statements for and against the motion were heard from Richard McGillivray from Midland Cycling Club, Matt Battye from Canberra Off Road Club and AusCycling Chair Craig Bingham.

Individuals from across the Australian club cycling community were then invited to speak in favour or against the motion to remove Bingham.

This included a passionate response from Aaron Liang of the Blackline Track League who said Bingham should not be made a ‘sacrificial lamb’ arguing clubs should ‘support AusCycling and work together to find solutions’ and another from UCI Executive Committee Member and AusCycling Board Member Anne Gripper who said ‘there are not enough Craig Binghams in Australian sport, to remove one seems crazy and reckless.’

Speaking in favour of the motion, Michael Burgher from the ACT’s Vikings Cycling Club stressed the motion was not intended as a personal or professional attack on Craig Bingham, but rather the direct result of a frustrating lack of momentum.

He explained his club supported the motion as it puts AusCycling on notice that clubs want to be listened to.

Somewhat surprisingly, beyond the opening statement from Midland’s Richard McGillivray, Burgher was one of only two people who choose to speak up in favour of the motion—with considerably more cautioning against it.

Watching on as the meeting progressed an air of inevitably grew that the motion was likely to fail and it ultimately did by a considerable margin.

What’s next?

Despite the motion’s failure, a considerable amount of reflection appeared to on display from the key AusCycling figures in attendance. Voices and concerns were raised by clubs to the sport’s leadership in the most humbling of public forums.

Now those clubs will be watching on closely for signs that those voices were genuinely heard, hopeful of change in the way the governing body engages with and supports clubs.

“Collectively lets find a way to have better dialogue, diversity of opinions is critical to make informed decisions,” Craig Bingham said.

“I’m completely for (finding better ways to) reach time-poor volunteers in clubs, we want to have these conversations, its frustrating that we’ve got to this point to have this conversation, everyone is agreeing we need to have more.”

The 2026 AusCycling Annual General Meeting (AGM) is scheduled for Saturday, 30 May 2026.

You can see AusCycling’s statement here.