John Coates attacked for ‘demeaning disabled’ as AOC ally stands down

Australian Paralympic Committee head has accused John Coates of demeaning people with disabilities.

‘Ours is not a sheltered workshop’, John Coates told former AOC chief executive Fiona de Jong. Picture: Cameron Richardson

The head of the Australian Paralympic Committee has accused Olympic supremo John Coates of demeaning people with disabilities by declaring the AOC is a not a sheltered workshop.

Mr Coates’s public rebuke by Australia’s peak sporting body for people with disabilities came after his most trusted political ally, media director Mike Tancred, stood down from all AOC duties until bullying allegations against him were resolved.

Mr Tancred’s decision to take indefinite leave while his boss fights to retain control of the AOC came hours before an emergency board meeting last night, which was called by directors demanding that he step down. Following the meeting, the AOC announced a review into its workplace practices “to ensure the best possible environment for our staff’’. The review will be overseen by incoming chief executive Matt Carroll.

The comments by Mr Coates were revealed in a release of internal documents by former AOC chief executive Fiona de Jong. They place the AOC president at the centre of a toxic workplace ­culture that has prompted an ­exodus of senior staff.

Mr Coates wrote his comment in an email exchange shared with up to eight AOC staff and board members in which he lambasted a relatively young employee and ­encouraged the then chief executive, Ms de Jong, to accept her ­resignation.

The unidentified employee, who quit soon after the email was sent, worked for the AOC in the lead-up to the Rio Olympics while she was receiving treatment for leukaemia.

Ms de Jong, who quit the AOC at the end of last year after lodging a bullying complaint against Mr Tancred, wrote to Mr Coates in January last year urging him to show more sensitivity towards staff.

“Naturally she was most upset, primarily at the misunderstanding of her actions, but also the public manner in which your opinions were expressed,’’ Ms de Jong wrote.

“This was particularly so as she values your opinion and holds you in high esteem.’’

Mr Coates was unapologetic.

“If she’s offended it’s probably time for her to get out in the real world,” he wrote back. “Ours is not a sheltered workshop.’’

Mr Coates’s use of the antiquated term was raised at a board meeting of the paralympic committee. APC chief executive Lynne Anderson said she was saddened that someone in Mr Coates’s position would use language that stigmatised people with disabilities. “Quite simply, we object to any language that portrays disability in a negative light,’’ she said.

“It shows a total lack of respect. It is incredibly hard for people with a disability to get a job and this kind of language just isn’t helpful.”

Mr Coates, as a senior vice-president for the International Olympic Committee, is chairman of the Tokyo co-ordinating commission for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Mr Coates, AOC president for the 27 years, is facing an unprecedented challenge by Olympic champion Danielle Roche. At a May 6 meeting, delegates from Australia’s summer and winter sports and all members of the current board will cast secret ballots to determine the president, vice-presidents and make-up of the board until the Tokyo Games.

If Mr Coates is voted out as AOC president, he will lose his position on the IOC. Olympic sources confirm that if this happens, IOC president Thomas Bach will ensure Mr Coates is given another IOC spot to continue his planning work for Tokyo.

The AOC election campaign has become a personally bruising affair for Mr Coates. In a ­letter to sports this week, he complained of a “co­-ordinated and sadly vindictive campaign’’ against him and his legacy.

He denied there was a bullying culture at the AOC and ­assured all sports that, in relation to Ms de Jong’s complaint, “due process has been followed and followed with urgency”.

The Coates letter drew a pointed response from Ms de Jong, an experienced sports ­administrator groomed for more than a decade by the AOC boss to take over the running of the organisation.

In a letter to AOC board members, she listed a dozen formal and informal complaints and investigations into alleged bullying within the AOC. Of these, seven related to allegations against Mr Tancred.

As recently as three weeks ago, the AOC’s lawyers had ­advised Ms de Jong that her matter would not be dealt with until after the AOC elections.

The AOC board last night agreed to delegate her complaint against Mr Tancred to a panel of three senior lawyers or retired judges, including at least one woman, independent from the AOC. The panel will be given one month to determine the complaint.