Company directors want John Coates replaced at AOC

Two of Australia’s most influential corporate leaders are backing Danielle Roche to topple John Coates as AOC president.

AOC President John Coates.

Two of Australia’s most influential corporate leaders are backing Danielle Roche to topple John Coates as Australian Olympic Committee president, following a series of revelations about the spending priorities and workplace culture of Australia’s nation­al Olympic body.

Ann Sherry and Leigh Clifford, prominent company directors with a direct involvement in Olympic sport, say there is a need for change at the top of the AOC to force cultural change and governance reform at the organisation Mr Coates has run as a persona­l fiefdom for 27 years.

Ms Sherry, a former chief executive of the Bank of Melbourne voted the most influential woman in Australian business, said she was dismayed by reports that former AOC chief Fiona de Jong quit her post amid bullying and harassment allegations against AOC media boss Mike Tancred, a loyal ally of Mr Coates.

“People thought she was very capable and found her straightforward to deal with,’’ said Ms Sherry, a former director of the Australian Sports Commission and current director of the Australian Rugby Union, one of 40 sports that will vote on May 6 to determine the AOC presidency.

“It says that something is wrong inside the organisation when good people leave. Sport is about team culture. You can’t have the organisation that purports to represent elite sport looking as though it doesn’t apply the same standard to themselves.

“The AOC is looking like an organisatio­n with very old-fashioned governance, built around a couple of people.’’

Mr Clifford, a director of Equestrian Australia and the chairman of Qantas, a longstanding sponsor of the Australian Olympic team, said the case was now clear. “I have listened to both candid­ates and I have concluded it is time for a change,’’ he told The Australian.

“Danni Roche has outlined a vision for changing the modus operan­di of the board, for ­increased transparency, for greater­ distribution of money for sports and a strong desire to work with the ASC without jeopardising the autonomy of the Olympic movement. Sportspeople around Australia generally compete on a shoestring and often at a fair cost to themselves.

“More dollars distributed from the AOC, in conjunction with what the ASC does, certainly will make a difference.

“I would have to say that ­Australian sport is not benefiting from the substantial amount of money that flows to the AOC.’’

The Australian revealed this month that the AOC, an organisation with average annual revenue of about $22 million, spends 52c from every dollar on its own ­administrative costs, including generous executive salaries and rent on its harbourside headquarters.

A $717,5000 consultancy fee paid to Mr Coates last year for ­services rendered as AOC president is about 40 times the average annual payment the AOC makes to 15 smaller sports.

Further revelations about money spent on commissions to service the AOC’s tightly protected sponsorship monopoly, the details­ of Ms de Jong’s harassment claim against Tancred and Mr Coates’s foul-mouthed rant about ASC boss John Wylie have raised more questions about how the AOC conducts its business.

Mr Coates has weakened his standing within corporate Australia by questioning the role of ­company chiefs such as Mr Clifford on the boards of Olympic sports. Ms Roche is mounting an unprecedented challenge to Mr Coates’s control of the AOC. A member of the gold medal-­winning 1996 Hockeyroos squad, she has pledged to overhaul the funding priorities of an organisation that between the London and Rio Games spent only 20 per cent of its revenue on programs to benefit Olympic sports and ­athletes.

Her candidacy has split the AOC board, with 11 candidates nominating to contest seven available positions at the secret ballot on May 6. Neither Mr Clifford nor Ms Sherry speak for the boards of their sports. Most ­Olympic sports are yet to formally decide how they will vote.

However, Mr Clifford said he would be pushing for Ms Roche and renewal when the board of Equestrian Australia met to finalise its position. He said the need for an experienced AOC president and influence at the International Olympic Committee level was outweighed by the need for change and to put Australian athletes first.

“When our board discusses how to vote, I’ll be advocating suppor­t for Danni Roche,’’ he said.

Ms Sherry said the governance of the AOC under Mr Coates resemble­d the antiquated model that the Australian government had tried to rid Olympic sports of. “You can’t have your national Olympic organisation behaving as though a different set of rules apply. They don’t,’’ she said.

Ms Sherry’s attack came as former­ AOC digital manager Ryan Wells, who worked at the organis­ation for five years from 2000 before moving back to his home in Britain, told The Australian Tancred had once approached his desk and threatened him.

“ I was very shaken and felt sick. It was totally out of the blue,” Mr Wells said. “The whole experience had a profound effect on my life. After that I couldn’t work with him and he never apologised for the hurt he caused.”

Mr Wells was made redundant six months later, a move he held Tancred responsible for.

“I was forced out by this man,’’ he said. “There was no justice. There was no accountability. I lost the job I loved and the country I came to call home.”

He said Tancred’s behaviour had cast a shadow over an organisation that “holds a special place in the hearts of all Australians”.

“I have no confidence that the AOC leadership will act swiftly and decisively to address these allegat­ions and would call upon Matt Kean, the NSW workplace minister, to intervene if Mr ­Tancred is not ­immediately stood down and a truly independent ­investigation opened. Mr Tancred must be stood down today.”

When approached by The ­Australian, Tancred declined to comment.

While SafeWork NSW confirmed it had not received any complaints from AOC employees, Mr Kean, who is actually the NSW Innovation Minister, told The Australia­n bullying of any kind was “completely unacceptable”.

Mr Kean said any allegations of blackmail or threats of violence should be immediately reported to the NSW Police Force.