Half of AOC’s costs go to admin, exec pay and harbour views

New figures show that, as government funding for sport is in decline, the AOC’s highest spending priority is itself.

Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates’s package is worth $729,000 a year.

The Australian Olympic Committee spends 52c of every dollar it earns on its own administrative costs, including bloated executive salaries and lavish corporate headquarters overlooking Sydney’s Circular Quay.

An exclusive analysis of AOC finances for the four years between­ the London and Rio Olympics reveals it spent more money on its harbourside lease arrangements and the pay packets of its top three executives than it provided in grants to all Olympic sports and athletes combined.

The AOC’s spending priorities are a key battleground in the contest between long-serving president John Coates and challenger Danielle Roche for control of Australia’s Olympic movement.

Mr Coates’s $717,500 consult­ancy fee — within a total remuneration package of $729,000, once a car allowance is thrown in — dwarfs the average, annual payments the AOC makes to its smaller sports. Ms Roche has promised to accept­ no pay as president and to redirect the savings to sports and athletes.

Mr Coates’s remuneration has increased by an average of 5.8 per cent — twice the rate of inflation — since 2002. In that time, Australia’s summer Olympics medal tally dropped from 50 in Athens in 2004 to 29 in Rio last year.

Ms Roche has pledged to reduce­ the AOC’s administrative costs to between 20 and 30 per cent of revenue, in line with best practice for not-for-profit organisations. Based on current revenue figures, this would free an extra $18 million to $26m for Australia’s athletes and sports preparing for the 2020 Tokyo Games.

“In an environment where funding for sport is limited, every dollar counts,’’ Ms Roche said yesterday. “I believe that the AOC can and should be doing more to limit overhead and admin­istrative costs so that more money can be directed to sports and athletes.’’

Mr Coates declined to answer questions.

The AOC presidency and future­ shape of the AOC board will be decided by a secret ballot of all Olympic sports on May 6. A ­record 16 candidates nominated this week to fill 10 board positions. At least seven candidates oppose or are not aligned with Mr Coates.

The financial analysis is based on figures contained in the AOC’s published annual reports and its soon-to-be published financial ­results from last year. They show that, as government funding for sport is in decline, the AOC’s highest spending priority is itself.

The AOC generated $89m in revenue between 2012 and last year, principally through sponsorship and a carefully managed investment portfolio contained within the $140m Australian Olympic Fund. It spent $24m on its core responsibility of fielding Australian Olympic teams in Sochi in 2014 and Rio.

In the same period, it spent $43m on support services, administrative costs, employee benefits and the ongoing cost of its office, housed in the Museum of Contemporary Art building. The lease is understood to cost the AOC more than $500,000 a year.

The AOC spent $21m during the Rio Olympiad on programs designed to benefit current and future Olympians. About $4m of that was soaked up by administ­rative costs.

The AOC spends a combined $1.17m on salaries for its president and chief executive. The Australian Sports Commission, the peak government sports agency that provides most of the funding for Olympic sports, pays its chief executive and chairman a combined $488,000. The comparative figure for the Australian Paralympic Committee is $329,000.