The 'supplementary' complaints management process with Sports Integrity Australia is welcome, but it doesn't obviate the need for an independent inquiry.
The joint announcement from Football Australia (FA), Sports Integrity Australia and the National Sports Tribunal late on October 6, of “an independent complaint management process” in response to the revelations published in News Limited press this week is not the same as an independent external inquiry – although you might be forgiven from some media reports for thinking it is.
What the announcement amounts to, in effect, is advice that individuals are encouraged to take complaints to Sports Integrity Australia as “a supplement” to the existing complaints mechanism FA has in place through its Member Protection Framework via a private company, Core Integrity.
Let me explain further.
Sports Integrity Australia and the National Sports Tribunal
Sports Integrity Australia has responsibility for:
a national integrity framework
anti-doping policy and measures
coordinating response to combating match-fixing
protecting sport from betting threats
education for athletes and other sport participants about keeping sport clean, and
ensuring that sport is a safe place for athletes and other participants.
They already have in place an established, confidential process to handle integrity issues including “abuse of children and other persons in a sporting environment … and the failure to protect members of sporting organisations and other persons in a sporting environment from bullying, intimidation, discrimination or harassment.”
Further, since its inception, Sports Integrity Australia has been responsible for receiving:
“all complaints relating to prohibited conduct under the National Integrity Framework and will assess these complaints to determine the most appropriate resolution process, either via the Complaints, Disputes and Discipline Policy or referral to external organisations such as a regulatory authority or child protection agency, or to the National Sporting Organisations to manage under a relevant sport policy.”
The National Sports Tribunal is another government agency that works closely with Sports Integrity Australia, and acts as a dispute resolution process for sports.
Coincidentally, it is headed by John Boultbee, a longstanding (2004-2013) former Head of National Teams at FA who would be known to, and has had dealings with, many people in the football world and who, if ever a case came before him, may need to excuse himself on the basis of conflict of interest.
FA’s Member Protection Framework
Currently, making a complaint under the FA’s Member Protection Framework leads to a website link to ‘Report a Complaint Today’. That takes you to a page that has a message from the CEO underlining the importance of the Member Protection Framework, explaining what type of complaint can be made (with broad criteria), and outlining that complaints will be managed by a private company, Core Integrity. It also includes a statement from Core Integrity about the confidentiality of the information provided to them.
Core Integrity is a private company that delivers “industry-leading integrity risk solutions”.
The key difference between Sports Integrity Australia and Core Integrity – other than one being government and the other being private sector – is that while Core Integrity states that they are experienced in handling confidential and sensitive issues, “In submitting your report, you agree to have the information you provide in the report, including your identity (if supplied) provided to your organisation for review and action where appropriate.”
So far, so good, you might think; that is, FA is supplementing their complaints mechanism from Core Integrity, which does not guarantee confidentiality, to an external government agency, which is a little opaque on confidentiality but does have some protections in place, “to supplement the governing body’s complaint handling process under its Member Protection Framework”.
Complaints Management is not the same as Independent Inquiry into Culture
But while it is encouraging that football now has an external complaints management process as a ‘supplement’ to the existing process, that alone does not do justice to the public statements of Lisa De Vanna, Rhali Dobson, Elissia Carnavaras and Renaye Iserief.
The announcement from FA, Sports Integrity Australia and the National Sports Tribunal also does not countenance the past decades of hurt that the women spoke of, but what will happen contemporaneously.
As Greg Baum for Fairfax Media and Stuart Thomas for The Roar wrote so eloquently on Thursday, it doesn’t matter that these events happened 10, 20, 30 or even more years ago.
What does matter is that they have now found their voice, they are now in a headspace to tell their stories, and others might also be encouraged to share their experiences. We as a sport would be derelict to consider this issue as ‘fixed’ simply because FA has, in effect, re-announced a previous Ministerial announcement and brought to everyone’s attention an alternative management arrangement for handling complaints.
The fact that this development is presented, and accepted by some, as being adequate for dealing with the issues raised is tone deaf to the times. Consider:
The USWNT. The Canadian, Colombian, Haitian, Afghan, Iceland women’s football teams.
Gymnastics. Swimming. Hockey. Skating. Handball.
The Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse.
The Stolen Generation.
What these events, and those described by De Vanna, Dobson, Carnavaras and Iserief, have in common is culture.
They happened because there are deep-seated cultural issues to be addressed, not because there was, or wasn’t an adequate complaints management process.
This is why Women in Football wrote to James Johnson on the morning of October 5 (unaware of the News Limited report to come that day) suggesting an independent external inquiry, funded and appointed by the Federal Government.
While it is good management practice to have a complaints management process in place, it does not solve the cultural challenges implicit in the women’s complaints, because when it comes to a matter of process vs culture, culture wins every time.
To address culture properly, we need an independent external inquiry that allows these women and others, including men, to be heard. We need those responsible to be held accountable.
To those who believe these revelations “hurt the brand” of football - no. What hurts football is not holding people accountable, and not dealing with this the right way.
We should not perpetuate the hurt by failing those who have been abused or who have been the victim of misconduct, or by failing to re-set for young people.
As former Prime Minister Julia Gillard said when she established the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse, “…they've not only had their trust betrayed by the abuser but other adults who could have acted to assist them have failed to do so.”
As a sport, it may mean we need to learn of some uncomfortable truths.
We need a roadmap to set out what we as a sport need to do to make our sport a safe, happy, comfortable and positive environment for everyone. And considering this talk of cultural issues has been around for years, and may range from inappropriate through to criminal conduct, we should recognise that it’s beyond us as a sport to find a just solution to these issues, and we should therefore seek and accept external, expert, independent input.
The type of person who should be invited to head such an inquiry is former Sex Discrimination Commissioner and former NSW Minister for Women and Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (amongst others), Pru Goward.
We need to make our game the best it can be for everyone. All girls, all women; all boys, all men.
That really would be a legacy to be proud of as we head into hosting the 2023 World Cup.