Opera Australia investigates bullying claims in staff survey

A staff survey and hotline at the national opera company has led to an independent investigation into bullying and harassment.

Fiona Allan, chief executive of Opera Australia.

Opera Australia is investigating complaints of bullying and harassment after a staff survey found one in three employees believed there had been unacceptable behaviour at the national company.

Chief executive Fiona Allan said OA had engaged an independent investigator to examine the claims, which came to light in the survey and from a telephone hotline.

An alleged incident involving a senior staff member during a production of The Phantom of the Opera was one of the matters being investigated, and other people were being investigated for separate incidents, Ms Allan said.

“We have appointed independent investigators who are working their way through talking to various people,” she said.

“There are a few things that have come back to us from the hotline that we set up.

“Once we saw there was a need to appoint an investigator to look at claims of bullying and harassment, there’s more than one thing that has been fed into them.”

Ms Allan arrived at OA in ­November last year after 18 years in Britain, most recently at the Birmingham Hippodrome, where she was artistic director and chief executive.

She was also president of the UK Theatre Association, which led the development of a workplace code of conduct for the theatre industry.

Ms Allan said when she started at OA, she encountered a workplace where employees were reluctant to report bullying and harassment.

“There was a lot of talk behind the scenes about dissatisfaction with the workplace culture, but no one was formalising it or speaking out about it,” she said.

“This was especially within the performing company: within the orchestra, the chorus and the singers.

“They also had a lack of faith, if they spoke out, that anything would happen.”

The investigation was expected to be complete in four to five weeks, Ms Allan said.

OA on Monday will release its annual report for 2021, showing the financial hit from the second year of the pandemic.

The company reported an operating loss of $22.6m, offset by federal and state Covid-specific assistance worth $21m, and the sale of an inner-Sydney warehouse for $37.2m.

The year ended with a consolidated surplus of $39.6m.

Lyndon Terracini is due to step down as artistic director at the end of 2023 and Ms Allan said she hoped a successor would be appointed by August or September.