‘I was sacked over sex abuse review’, says former SSO boss Emma Dunch

Former Sydney Symphony ­Orchestra chief executive Emma Dunch claims she was sacked last year after she tried to investigate at least six allegations of sexual assault and sexual harassment by male musicians.

Former Sydney Symphony ­Orchestra chief executive Emma Dunch. Picture: Britta Campion

Former Sydney Symphony ­Orchestra chief executive Emma Dunch claims she was sacked last year after she tried to investigate at least six allegations of sexual assault and sexual harassment by male musicians in the orchestra.

In court documents obtained by The Australian, Ms Dunch claims she was axed from her $530,000-a-year job because of her role in terminating a performer accused of sexual assault and because she had instigated a review by former Commonwealth Sex Discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick of other claims.

Ms Dunch says at one point last year she was contacted by ABC presenter Leigh Sales seeking comment about a review into her performance “which was strictly confidential and illegally disclosed to Ms Sales”.

Ms Dench is taking legal ­action in the Federal Court against the SSO and former chair Geoff Wilson, alleging adverse action against her under the Fair Work Act and breach of her ­contract. She was paid $471,302 on termination but is seeking an extra $74,560 for breach of contract plus payment for the loss and damage she has suffered, including for “anxiety, shock and distress”.

Ms Dunch was dismissed in December last year, two years before her contract was due to end, after falling out with the board over funding issues and her management style. When she was sacked, she claimed to be the victim of a “hit job” because she had pushed the government to honour funding commitments after delays in renovations of the Sydney Opera House concert hall threatened multi-million-dollar losses for the orchestra.

In an explosive statement at the time, Ms Dunch described a campaign of “ongoing vilification and harassment” against her as she pressed for $5m in additional funding.

“We all know NSW politics is a blood sport, however I’ve been targeted with a politically architected ‘hit job’ of the highest order across the past several years,” she said, vowing to take the case to anti-corruption authorities.

Ms Dunch’s tenure at the SSO had been marked by turmoil. A review by the former chief executive of the London Philharmonic, Tim Walker, found a high staff ­attrition rate was the result of “a management that wanted to micro­-manage everything”.

According to the court documents, in May 2021 a female musician alleged she had been sex­ually assaulted by another per­former. On that day, Ms Dunch says in her claim, she had to seek urgent medical help for anxiety precipitated by the complaint.

Over the next two months, six current and former SSO employees approached her alleging other instances of sexual harassment or sexual assault, she claims in the court documents, saying they felt unsafe but feared retribution.

In August, Ms Dunch hired Ms Broderick to undertake “a cultural review” of the SSO, and in October a mid-project review was shown to the board detailing “systemic sexual harassment, bullying, racism and behavioural issues … dating back more than two decades, as attested to by approximately 60 interviewees”.

In October, Sales contacted her for comment over the sexual assault allegations and the Broderick review. Three days later, Sales contacted her again, she says, this time about the Walker report, which she claims was ­“illegally disclosed to Ms Sales”.

Later that month, after she was advised the board was meeting to discuss her future, she again claims she had to seek “emergency medical assistance as a result of new vicarious trauma and continuing anxiety symptoms arising due to the employment”.

In December, her employment was terminated with immediate effect and with no reason given, she said. However, she believed the adverse action was taken either because of her role in terminating the accused performer or because she had instigated the Broderick review.

The Sydney Symphony ­Orchestra has not yet filed a ­defence. An SSO spokesman said: “We are vigorously contesting the claims made by Ms Dunch.”