New Chair announced for Western Australian Institute of Sport as governance review gets underway

The Western Australian Government has announced that audit and business management specialists KPMG have been appointed to undertake a holistic review of the governance and culture at the Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS) - also advising of the appointment of Dr Neale Fong as the new Chair of the troubled elite sporting body.

The KPMG review will investigate the culture at the scandal-hit organisation, in relation to the safety and wellbeing of the athletes under its care, and the staff it employs, including the adequacy of relevant policies and their resourcing and implementation. It will identify areas for improvement and propose appropriate recommendations to address those areas.

Importantly, the governance and culture review will enable any current staff and athletes, and those who were at WAIS within the past five years, the opportunity to share their experiences and perspectives.

Following an exodus of board members following a long-stalled restorative process for gymnasts abused by demanding coaches, Western Australian Sport and Recreation Minister David Templeman has also announced the first round of new WAIS Board members, with experienced administrator Dr Neale Fong appointed Chair.

Dr Fong is joined by former Western Australian Director General of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet Darren Foster, Hockey WA Chief Executive Fabian Ross and former Western Australian Police Force Deputy Commissioner Gary Dreibergs.

Western Australian Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries Deputy Director General Jennifer McGrath is also an Ex-Officio member of the board, representing the Director General.

The review and new appointments comes 18 months after an April 2022 Sports Integrity Australia investigation concluded the largely state government-funded WAIS should embark on a process to make amends to the women who were subjected to the abuse between 1987 and 2016.

This included verbal and physical abuse, unnecessary skinfold testing, weight-shaming, an expectation to train and compete with injuries, and extreme training loads.

Work has also begun to identify the optimum business model for WAIS into the future, looking at alternatives to its current establishment as an incorporated body.

Commenting on the changes, Minister Templeman stated "I am very pleased to announce that KPMG will lead the work on this important review into the governance and culture at WAIS.

"The process to appoint the right organisation has taken time, however there was a large number of responses and the department needed to properly evaluate them all to achieve the right outcome.

"Now this work can start, I encourage anyone who is at WAIS now or has been in the past five years to start thinking about how they might like to contribute to this review.”

Further Board appointments will be announced shortly.

Images: New WAIS Chair Dr Neale Fong (top, credit: LinkedIn) and the WAIS building (below, credit: WAIS).