Gag on Kearns over sports funding

Australian Institute of Sport boss Peter Conde told Phil Kearns to stop speaking out about ‘sports rorts’ and underfunding of sports.

Phil Kearns has been told to stop speaking about underfunding of sports

Australian Institute of Sport boss Peter Conde told Wallabies great Phil Kearns to stop speaking out about the “sports rorts” affair and underfunding of sports as he campaigned for struggling Olympic athletes.

Kearns, who over the past 18 months has relentlessly advocated for Olympic athletes enduring financial hardship going into the Tokyo Games, called out the allocation of $100 million in community sports grants to marginal seats ahead of the election.

In mid-January Kearns went on 2GB radio and said the scandal was “a slap in the face for Olympic athletes that are absolutely battling going into an Olympic year”.

Kearns received a phone call from AIS chief Conde asking that he “stop” speaking out and the pair then met for coffee. Kearns is not employed by any Olympic sporting body and acts independently for financially struggling athletes.

When contacted by The Australian, Kearns declined to elaborate and said: “I have been asked by Sport Australia to refrain from stirring the pot at the moment.”

An AIS spokesperson confirmed the interaction.

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“Peter Conde met with Phil Kearns to convey that his particular recent campaign conducted via the media to call for increased government funding to high-performance sport was not helpful in achieving the needs of high-performance sport. Mr Conde said to Mr Kearns that a unified approach across the high-performance sector, working together, would be more conducive to positive outcomes.”

A sports official with an understanding of the interaction told The Australian that Conde informed Kearns he was “not being helpful” criticising the government and to “stop”. Conde suggested the decorated Wallaby’s activism in the media for more high-performance money could jeopardise future funding.

The radio interview that triggered Conde’s plea for silence from the Wallabies great occurred on January 21 when Kearns was quizzed on the issue of now former sports minister Bridget McKenzie allocating $100m in community sports grants to marginal seats ahead of the 2019 election and general funding issues.

“A lot of this money went to rugby league and AFL clubs and, you know a sport which gets over $2 billion in television rights, why are we giving them money?” Kearns said to host Chris Smith.

He added: “These people are out there striving, they’re working their guts out to try and do the best for themselves and for their country and we’re letting them down.”

Kearns was first drawn to the issue of underfunding of athletes after his daughter Matilda and her teammates were forced to crowdfund after she was selected to play in the world water polo championships. Water polo players were told their junior world championship trip would cost them $10,000.

Kearns has given a voice to many athletes who feel they can’t speak out and has met with both sides of politics, including PM Scott Morrison. This week The Australian revealed Conde earns $426,000 a year and flies in from his home in Brisbane. The long lease on a Canberra apartment is included in his salary package.

The AIS has spent as much as $5m on recruitment companies and half a dozen executives have salaries north of $220,000.