State government minister Corey Wingard accused of bullying and intimidation by the head of Sport SA

The Public Sector Commissioner is investigating allegations of bullying and intimidation against SA’s Sport Minister – who says the complaint is “unsubstantiated”.

State Sport Minister Corey Wingard has been accused of bullying and intimidating the head of SA’s peak sports body, leaving its chief executive officer “shaken” and “concerned” about future interactions.

Sport SA chief executive officer Leah Cassidy has lodged a complaint with Premier Steven Marshall over what she describes as “two instances of bullying and intimidation that I have recently experienced at the hands of … Mr Wingard”.

The Premier says he referred the matter “very promptly” to the Public Sector Commissioner for investigation.

Mr Wingard has described the complaint as “unsubstantiated”.

“Both of these events have left me shaken and concerned about future interactions with the Minister in my capacity as chief executive officer of Sport SA, the peak independent agency for sport in South Australia,” Ms Cassidy wrote.

SA Sport Minister Corey Wingard. Picture: Emma Brasier

Ms Cassidy went on to outline an incident at a meeting with Mr Wingard on June 24 where she was representing the views of Sport SA members who had expressed their devastation at the “Minister’s decision to award $2 million of a $2.3 million grant pool to organisations outside of the sport and recreation sector”.

This was referring to the government’s Partnerships Program – a sporting grants scheme.

She said Mr Wingard made reference to having looked at the finances of Triathlon SA and stated “yes, I can see how much Triathlon have spent on trophies, staffing and event costs”.

Ms Cassidy said this was “clearly designed to intimidate” and Triathlon SA had indicated it felt intimidated by the comments.

“In addition, the Minister’s chief of staff made several attacks on me personally, her tone and body language were also extremely aggressive and designed to intimidate me,” she alleged.

“The Minister made no attempt to stop this behaviour during the meeting, in fact, he sat in silence while she ‘spat’ accusations about me across the table.”

Ms Cassidy said following this, she wrote to Mr Wingard’s office to state she felt bullied and intimidated by the incident. She said she did not receive a response.

Leah Cassidy and her son Noah after her appointment as chief executive officer of Sport SA in 2018. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

She alleged she then received a call from the chief executive officer of the Recreation, Sport and Racing Department, informing her that given her complaint, “it is in everyone’s best interest if you don’t attend today’s briefing with the Minister”.

The briefing was an online meeting to discuss how a recent outbreak of Covid-19 would affect the sports industry.

“To be excluded from this meeting is nothing short of intimidation,” Ms Cassidy wrote.

“To have been advised not to attend by the chief executive in relation to a matter that I raised against the Minister personally is also outrageous.”

Mr Marshall referred Ms Cassidy’s concerns to the Public Sector Commissioner Erma Ranieri for investigation.

“I think we’ve got an open and transparent process here in South Australia and I back it 100 per cent,” Mr Marshall said.

Public Sector Commissioner Erma Ranieri.

Ms Cassidy told The Advertiser she was “incredibly disappointed” with the meeting.

“I don’t make this complaint lightly – it’s not something I would do without due consideration,” she said.

“We gave the minister the opportunity to respond in the first instance and in the absence of any response, and then the follow-up matter, we felt we had no choice but to escalate the matter.”

Ms Cassidy said she was grateful that Mr Marshall responded quickly to her complaint.

Mr Wingard described the complaint as an “unsubstantiated claim”.

He confirmed the letter lodged by Ms Cassidy and “former Labor MP and now president of Sport SA Michael Wright” had been referred to Ms Ranieri. Mr Wright was cc’d in on Ms Cassidy’s letter.

Mr Wingard also defended the Partnerships Program.

“The new Partnerships Program enables some remarkable and innovative initiatives to come to life encouraging more people to get active,” he said.

“Around 90 per cent of Partnerships Program funding has been allocated to not-for-profit organisations that exist to service the community.”

Mr Wingard said the new program aimed to “deliver against the government’s Game On initiatives and is not for funding ongoing operations”.

Labor government accountability spokesman Tom Koutsantonis said the allegations raised by Ms Cassidy were “very concerning and any investigation must be treated incredibly seriously”.

“He should stand aside pending this investigation,” Mr Koutsantonis said.

“This is a Minister of the Crown who is clearly out of his depth on a wide range of issues, and now he is allegedly treating grassroots sports very poorly.”