Swimming Australia rethinking promise on how to implement reforms tackling abuse

Aussie female swimmers were promised reforms after they revealed the abuse they suffered. Now, Swimming Australia is rethinking how to implement these changes.

Swimming Australia president Kieren Perkins speaks to media during the 2021 Australian Swimming Championships. Picture: Getty Images

Swimming Australia is reconsidering its plans to implement all of the recommendations from the scathing review triggered by Maddie Groves and other courageous whistleblowers about the shocking way some women and girls have been treated within the sport.

Although the full contents of the independent review were never publicly released, Swimming Australia issued a historic and unreserved apology for what happened in the past and made a solemn promise to enforce the 46 recommendations that were proposed by the panel to better safeguard female participants.

Swimming Australia President Michelle Gallen said the sport’s leaders remained committed to honouring that pledge, but said some of the recommended ideas might need a tweak, while others were taking longer than expected to be ready.

“Absolutely we intend to address every recommendation, some were very specific in their wording so we’re working our way through what the intent of them is,” she told News Corp.

New Swimming Australia President Michelle Gallen. Photo: Supplied

“We are not treating this as a tick a box exercise, that‘s not what we’re doing here.

“We‘ve been told there’s some cultural change that needs to occur, so what’s the holistic approach to this? How do we integrate everything and actually just get better at diversity and equality across our sport?”

Although Swimming Australia never set a hard deadline to finish the reform process, Gallen and former president Kieren Perkins did indicate they wanted everything finished in time for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

But almost a year after the steering committee commenced work, only 20 of the 46 proposals have been completed.

The rest are mostly still in progress, with many having already exceeded their published time frame for completion. Two recommendations have “not yet started.”

Australia's Maddie Groves swimming in Glascow. She was one of the brave swimmers to call out innapropriate behaviour from Australian swim coaches. Picture: Dean Lewins

Some – such as the adoption of a whistleblowing policy and the banning of skinfold tests – are being held up because they are tied to frameworks and policies being compiled by other organisations, including the Australian Sports Commission and Sport Integrity Australia.

But others – including a proposal to give swimmers more control over who sees their private medical records and a greater say in matters that affect them – remain unresolved for no apparent reason, other than reportedly because of an ongoing disagreement with key executives over the proposed memorandum of understanding.

News Corp understands these holdups are among the many frustrations that have led to a breakdown in trust between executives and key stakeholders, including elite swimmers, coaches and state administrators.

Sources have said there are growing concerns about an alleged absence of transparency and open communication that has dramatically worsened over the past year.

Swimming Australia has its hands full implementing the abuse reforms. Picture: Getty Images

Just last week, a confidential letter, signed by every state federation, plus the national swimmers and coaches’ associations, was sent to the board of Swimming Australia, requesting an urgent and independent review into the way the sport is being run, saying they had lost faith in some of the leaders.

Gallen, who only took over as president last month, responded by saying she would arrange a face-to-face meeting with everyone to clear the air during next week’s short course world championships in Melbourne, but said there was meaningful progress already taking place behind the scenes.

“That‘s definitely not happening as quickly as we probably all would have liked. But that’s not to say that there’s not an enormous amount happening. There’s been a lot of conversations,” she said.

“It‘s taking a long time because it’s a bloody big task but there’s goodwill… and I’m still absolutely confident that the changes will take in all of the recommendations.

“It‘s been a bit of a time struggle, but mea culpa, the communication and making sure that it’s in people’s face all the time is something I’d like to do more of.

“But you‘ve got to walk that fine line as well because it’s how much do you want to remind people that there was this review that actually said things were still pretty crap.”

Originally published as Swimming Australia rethinking promise on how to implement reforms tackling abuse