Hush money bombshell: Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett demands AFL reform after hearing from suicidal bullying victims

A woman who said she was forced out of her AFL ‘dream job’ after being bullied by her boss finally has some hope after speaking to Jeff Kennett.

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan denies the code has a practice of silencing bullying victims with payouts and confidentiality agreements.

Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett will demand sweeping cultural change at the AFL and a complete overhaul of the code’s human resources department in the wake of revelations about the AFL’s “toxic culture”.

Kennett has been in contact with two women who worked at AFL House around 2018 and were left feeling suicidal after suffering bullying at their work.

Both the women, who first told their stories in The Australian this week, left their jobs in the belief senior management did not take their concerns seriously — but one said yesterday after speaking with Kennett she finally had some hope for change.

Kennett is placing the AFL’s response to the controversy squarely at the feet of AFL chairman Richard Goyder, saying he will marshal other club presidents to pressure Mr Goyder into enforcing reform.

On Thursday The Australian revealed that women who worked in AFL have routinely been silenced with confidentiality agreements after raising complaints about workplace bullying and harassment.

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan.

The investigation identified 14 cases of employees in the past nine years leaving the code after making bullying or harassment complaints against male leaders at AFL House, clubs and state bodies, with several signing confidentiality agreements.

The revelations coincided with the release of journalist Michael Warner’s bombshell book The Boys’ Club, which included two of the women’s accounts of being bullied at work.

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said the organisation did not tolerate bullying or harassment and worked hard to create a respectful and safe workplace.

“During my time as CEO, the AFL has never used nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) to try and silence victims or stop complainants from telling their story.

“Like all companies, it is standard practice for all people exiting the AFL via redundancy, termination or mutual separation to sign a Deed of Release that provides closure to all legal matters. “This is not a barrier to people being able to share their experience and shouldn’t be.”

Kennett has promised to use the last two terms of his Hawthorn presidency to ensure that no AFL employee has to suffer like these women did.

“Two of them have had suicidal thoughts who remain terribly distressed by what they have been put through,” Kennett said.

“I will do everything I can in the two years that remain with my presidency at Hawthorn.

“I will sit around the table with the commissioner, my colleagues, my presidential colleagues, to make sure that the controversies now become apparent and has been widespread, particularly in terms of bullying, not just to women against women, but also men. So that we can change the culture.”

“I will write to the chairman, Richard Goyder, asking the AFL commission to examine the issues and to report back and particularly to change the culture.”

AFL chairman Richard Goyder must urgently change the AFL’s culture, Jeff Kennett says.

He took aim at the AFL’s human resources department’s handling of complaints.

“I do think within the HR section at the AFL they’ve got to decide what their primary mission is; is their primary mission to defend the reputation of the code and to silence and to bury inappropriate acts?” Kennett said.

“Or is there to create an environment where those who work in the AFL have confidence that the HR department, that will take on board their complaints seriously. And put the concerns of the individual as their first priority until, they can either prove or disprove what has been alleged. In other words, the HR department must be there, as a reputable, confidential body of people, a) to make sure it’s a proper working environment, in line with not only the AFL’s policies but community standards. But secondly, they should always give first priority until proved or disproved the complaints and the welfare of the individual who raises those complaints. And in some cases, that has not been the case.”

One victim who worked at AFL House said her conversation with Kennett had made her feel “believed”. She was locked in a meeting room at AFL House and verbally abused, she also had a pen hurled at her and was stalked in the car park by her perpetrator.

She was ordered to mediate with him. He never apologised directly to her. Her perpetrator kept his job while she felt compelled to resign from her “dream job”.

Her conversation with Kennett on Thursday gave her some hope for change.

“It kind of takes my breath away that somebody of his stature just did not question me, supported and believed what I was saying and then actually initiated action, within a five minute phone call,” she said.

“Whereas I read (The Australian’s investigation), and (AFL chief executive) Gillon (McLachlan) is saying where incidents occur and allegations are found to be true, he will take action … I wasn’t offered compensation. So is that because (the AFL) they thought that wasn’t true?”

“I didn’t get an apology and he wasn’t sanctioned … and I lost a job I absolutely adored.”

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