Ex-NAB boss Andrew Thorburn hires lawyers after losing Essendon gig in row over his religion

Essendon Football Club has been privately negotiating an exit payment with its former chief executive, ex-banker Andrew Thorburn.

Andrew Thorburn.

Essendon Football Club has been privately negotiating an exit ­payment with its former chief executive, ex-banker Andrew Thorburn, who quit just one day into the job.

Mr Thorburn resigned last month after it emerged he was chairman of a church that preached negative views about homosexuality and abortion.

While he distanced himself from those views, made before he held the church’s chairmanship, Mr Thorburn quit after the club said he would need to choose ­between the two positions.

At the time, Essendon president Dave Barham said the club had acted swiftly to review revelations that the City on a Hill church posted a 2013 sermon to its website that said acting on same-sex ­attraction was “a sin” and another ­likening abortion to concentration camps.

Both sides have retained legal counsel and have been in discussions, sources said.

Essendon was said to have engaged law firm King & Wood Mallesons, although the club declined to comment.

Mr Thorburn has alleged he was wrongfully terminated after he was forced to decide between the City on a Hill leadership and the Essendon position.

In an earlier statement, he said it was “clear that my Christian faith and my association with a church are unacceptable in our culture if you wish to hold a leadership position in society”.

“I love all people, and have always promoted and lived an inclusive, diverse, respectful and supportive workplace where ­people are welcomed regardless of their culture, religious beliefs, and sexual orientation,” Mr Thorburn said.

The former NAB boss has found some support within the business community, with Deloitte Australia chief executive Adam Powick describing his resignation as “difficult to comprehend, as is the widespread comm­entary supporting this move”.

“For me, this shows a profound lack of understanding of what it truly means to live and work in a diverse, inclusive and tolerant society where people are judged by their demonstrated actions, behaviours and capabilities, rather than their personal characteristics and beliefs,” Mr Powick wrote on LinkedIn.

A spokesman for Mr Thorburn declined to comment.