Swimming Queensland has expressed its disapproval of the reforms recently made by Swimming Australia as the organization takes issue with the increased power the national governing body will have after implementing the changes mandated by World Aquatics.
Swimming Queensland was the lone dissenter in an 8-1 vote that saw Swimming Australia pass a new constitution at a Special General Meeting on October 20, with the national governing body having rushed to pass the reforms with World Aquatics having threatened expulsion in August.
World Aquatics said that Swimming Australia was in violation of numerous points in the World Aquatics Consitution, including a lack of athlete voting power on the Board.
With the vote passing last Friday, there will now be an athletes’ commission created, and the number of voting members will increase from nine to more than 20. As a result, state body members will have a lower proportion of votes on the board.
Swimming Queensland Chief Executive Kevin Hasemann issued a statement on Monday citing concerns with the changes, believing World Aquatics’ demands were unnecessary.
“I don’t think any of us could ever really believe that the action that was threatened by World Aquatics was proportionate, it clearly wasn’t,” he said, according to The Guardian.
“We’ve demonstrated this system [the current constitution] can work brilliantly,” Hasemann said on ABC radio. “Our view is that what’s actually gone wrong with Swimming Australia is that in recent times the people who filled the president and CEO [roles] haven’t met the standard required. If they get that bit right, they’ll get the rest right.”
In his statement, Hasemann explained his stance that the shift in voting power could negatively impact the grassroots level of the sport.
“Too great a proportion of appointed directors can easily result in a board no longer being representative of active participants in the sport or activity,” he said.
“It’s hard to see what benefit grassroots swimming will derive from this new structure.
“A further concern is that some crucial details of the constitutional reform are missing, such as an increase in the number of people who can vote at general meetings and in board elections, and the creation and role of an athletes’ commission.”
The Australian Sports Commission (ASC), which was consulted with the changes along with World Aquatics, didn’t have all of its criteria met, according to a post congratulating Swimming Australia on the announcement.
“As a result of the constitutional changes, Swimming Australia will move closer towards meeting the governance maturity standards expected for a tier one Commonwealth-funded sport,” the ASC said.
The tensions between Swimming Australia and Swimming Queensland comes as the state’s swimmers have becoming increasingly more important to the country’s performance on the global stage, with Queensland swimmers having won more than half of Australia’s medals in the pool at the Tokyo Olympics.
Kaylee McKeown, the best Australian swimmer at present given her recent dominance of the World Cup, is a Queensland-based athlete.
Gina Rinehart, the Australian billionaire who cut ties with Swimming Australia due to delayed athlete payments (and started paying swimmers directly), was notably named Swimming Queensland’s principal partner earlier this year. According to The Guardian, revenue at the organization increased by approximately $700,000 between the 2022 and 2023 financial years after Rinehart’s appointment.
Big Kev’s hubris never ceases to amaze.
Hard to see how he keeps a straight face when he continually references Swimming Queensland’s immense contribution to the Dolphins without acknowledging half the athletes he lays claim too weren’t products of his pathway, rather relocated to Queensland, not to mention the fact they operate under Swimming Australia supported performance programs whose world class coaches wouldn’t let him, or his staff, anywhere near their pool deck.
Gee, I can’t fathom why Swimming QLD wouldn’t want further supervision and oversight from Swimming Australia and World Aquatics.
https://swimswam.com/st-peters-western-issues-formal-response-to-bullying-allegations/
“the organization takes issue with the increased power ” That would be organisation. Don’t start using American mis-spelling, please.
First of all it’s an American website.
Second of all, excuse me my snobby friend from across the pond but the word is derived from the latin Organizo, spelled with a “z”. The French in their ignorance corrupted it to an “s” and we Americans simply corrected the error rather than doubling down on such nonsense like colour and metre.
There’s a reason why we sought and gained our glorious freedom from such nonsensical tyranny!
“They won’t really kick us out” seems like a risky bet to make, especially less than a year out from the Olympics! I wouldn’t depend on World Aquatics to act rationally.
QLD’s argument is that increasing the number of athletes in the board will make the board less representive of athletes?
I’m guessing that 9 to 20 increase isn’t all athletes.
Swimming qld ceo’s argument. Just his. Hopefully there’s more sensible swimming administrators around.
Sack the whole board of Swimming
Australia.
Disreputable management committee.
A steering committee must be appointed to fix their mess up
That they left behind.