AOC man stands down amid bullying claims

Former AOC chief executive Fiona De Jong has detailed complaints into bullying. Media director Mike Tancred has stood down.

Fiona De Jong, left, and John Coates.

Former AOC chief executive Fiona de Jong has detailed a dozen separate complaints and investigations into bullying at Australia’s national Olympic committee and exposed John Coates’ personal treatment of a staff member which prompted in her resignation from the organisation.

In an extraordinary intervention ahead of tonight’s emergency meeting of the AOC board, Ms De Jong accuses Mr Coates of making “inaccurate and misleading accusations’’ about the handling of her bullying complaint against AOC media director Mr Tancred.

Within hours of Ms De Jong’s letter to all board members, the AOC announced that Mr Tancred had agreed to stand down from his position until the bullying complaint against him was resolved.

Mike Tancred. Picture: AAP

Tonight’s board meeting was called by a group of AOC directors alarmed at media reports about Ms De Jong’s accusations against Mr Tancred and a previously undisclosed history of other complaints against the long-serving media spokesman.

Mr Coates has now acquiesced to the two key demands of the AOC executives who called the meeting; that Ms De Jong’s complaint be independently investigated and Mr Tancred be stood down until the matter is resolved.

Mr Coates sent a letter earlier this week to all Olympic sports in which he denied a culture of bullying at the AOC and claimed that Ms De Jong’s complaint had received due and prompt process.

In a detailed response today, Ms De Jong details seven separate complaints against Mr Tancred dating back to 2004 and multiple complaints against three other AOC employees. Of the dozen listed incidents, all but two relate to alleged behaviour between the London and Rio Olympics.

More damaging to Mr Coates is the language he used in January last year to deride a female solicitor then employed by the AOC. The tone of Mr Coates’ email and his decision to distribute it widely to senior AOC employees prompted Ms De Jong to intervene on the woman’s behalf.

“I respectfully suggest these comments may have been better directed at Jane (AOC former director of sport Jane Fernandez) or myself … rather than by response in this more public forum,’’ Ms De Jong wrote to Mr Coates.

“I also believe this approach would be more aligned with the organisational and team culture we promote, particularly where more junior members of staff are concerned.’’

In response, Mr Coates was scathing.

“Do not hold back on accepting (redacted) resignation on my account,’’ he replied.

“(Redacted)’s a solicitor, hardly a junior member of staff. If she’s offended it’s probably time for her to get out in the real world. Ours is not a sheltered workshop.

“Kind regards, John.’’

The solicitor was facing series health issues at the time. She has since quit the AOC, along with Ms De Jong and Fernandez.

Mr Coates’ pejorative reference to sheltered workshop, a highly offensive term to people with disabilities, is understood to have dismayed Australia’s Paralympic Committee.

Ms De Jong’s decision to lift the lid on the AOC’s toxic workplace culture has promoted a group of directors to demand that Mr Tancred be stood down while the bullying complaint against him is investigated and resolved by an independent committee.

In her letter to AOC executive members, Ms De Jong provides a detailed chronology of her complaint against Mr Tancred, dating back to 15 December 2016, when she formally lodged her concerns about the long-serving media spokesman directly to Mr Coates.

The complaint was immediately referred to the AOC’s go-to lawyer, Sydney solicitor Patrick George, who also represented Mr Coates in a high profile defamation case against broadcaster Alan Jones. It was only this week, after Ms De Jong spoke publicly about her experience and detailed threats that Mr Tancred allegedly made to her and her family, that Mr Coates agreed to refer the complaint to an independent committee.

“It is difficult to accept that ‘due’ process has been followed when, in fact, four months after the filing of the complaint no process has been determined, let alone followed ‘duly’ or otherwise,’’ Ms De Jong writes in today’s letter to the AOC board.

“Mr Coates rejects the suggestion of a bullying culture at the AOC and asserts that current AOC processes for responding to complaints are impartial and rigorous. Regrettably that has not been my experience, not the experience of other former AOC employees who have lodged complaints.

“I’m not sure how many complaints are required in order for an organisation to be characterised as having a culture of bullying.

“Further, given Mr Tancred reports directly to the AOC president, it is hard to believe Mr Coates was not aware of the previous bullying cases against Mr Tancred. And if not, why not?’’

Coates is being challenged for the AOC presidency by former Olympic champion hockey player Danielle Roche. Mr Coates’ 27-year position atop Australia’s Olympic movement will be decided by a secret ballot of all Olympic sports on 6 May.

The AOC board is scheduled to meet by telephone hook-up at 6:00pm tonight.