Courtesy Channel 9, Karl Stefanovic, Sarah Abo, Alex Cullen, & Brooke Boney
Look, I really like Gina Rinehart. She donates an awful lot of money to organisations like this. All she wanted to know was a bit of accountability for all this. It doesn’t seem like too much to ask. Do you have any idea what’s going on at Swimming Australia? Is it that big a problem at the moment?
I didn’t realise the situation that they were in until I heard this news that Gina Rinehart was pulling the funding. And I think if Gina Rinehart asks for some receipts as to where her money is going, I think she’s probably well entitled to see where it’s being spent. So it’s really hard to see exactly what’s going on. I don’t know the complete ins and outs of what’s happening at Swimming Australia, but I am really concerned about what’s happening and I think the athletes certainly need some funding. So I think, yeah, if Gina Rinehart asks for where it’s being spent and also what I’ve heard too is that the awards nights haven’t been going ahead for the athletes with say so deserve because they have done just so well.
I just think there’s got to be something seriously going wrong. If you can’t get that and you’ve got someone there who’s credible and who’s wanting to donate to the sport that desperately needs it and there’s no accountability. It just seems like an odd response from Swimming Australia. They’ve got some explaining to do.
I’ve just finished my psychology degree in organisational. Yeah.
Oh, I’ve just finished my organisational psychology degree. Maybe I need to get in there and just sort out what’s going on. Maybe we need a bit of mediation, maybe a bit of clear. Yeah. Oh it’s Look, I would think there’s a breakdown of communication that’s happened there somewhere and you need to from the outset, if you have funding like this, you need really clear communication about everybody’s expectations so that they can be met from either side. That’s what I would think from just from the outside looking in. That would be my thought.
Well, I can think of no one better to go on the inside out Look, Swimming Australia has been threatened with expulsion from world aquatics due to concerns about how the sport is being managed as well. What do you think? No, it’s from the outside again, and we’re not privy to everything that’s going on the inside. Maybe everyone should be more accountable there, but what do you think needs to happen? Because the focus should be always on the athletes.
It should be always on the athletes, and they’re doing an exceptional job. But maybe we need to do a bit of a deep dive into Swimming Australia, into the process that’s happening at the moment, and maybe we can clear out some confusion that’s happening because I think then again, world aquatics, maybe we’ve had a breakdown of communication about what’s happening and holding on to a CEO is something that’s really difficult for Swimming Australia at the moment. So if we can just get the organisation to feel a little bit better and that we can have better communication, maybe we can start working on some better communication with world aquatics as well because that’s not a great position to be in. If the governing body is facing or threatening expulsion for one of the biggest nations and one of the most competitive and one of the most successful nations in swimming at the moment, 100%.
Well, this funding affect the athletes as far as that, you know, Liesl, I hope not.
I really hope not. And some of them have individual funding, whether it’s from sponsors, and those are the lucky ones. I really about the ones that are maybe down a level that don’t get that individual funding because that’s really the guts of Swimming Australia. That’s where a lot of our performances come from and we need to be able to support those athletes. But we also know the cost of living crisis at the moment. Everything’s gone up. Massage, physio, dietetics everything’s gone up and increased in price. And if athletes can’t afford to access those really important services, then that’s when we’re going to get into a little bit of strife.
