ANALYSIS: High Performance Sport NZ will be under no obligation to act on any of the recommendations of an independent audit into its handling of athlete welfare issues in Canoe Racing NZ.

The government agency announced over the weekend it had commissioned prominent sports lawyer Don Mackinnon to audit High Performance Sport NZ’s “systems and processes” around the escalation of athlete wellbeing issues.

But the terms of reference for the audit appear to provide Mackinnon with the scope to canvas only a narrow range of views, while there’s no requirement that High Performance Sport NZ takes action in regard to any of the findings.

The audit follows a Stuff investigation into an athlete welfare crisis in canoe racing, which revealed serious alleged governance failures at High Performance Sport NZ, with one former physiotherapist embedded in the canoe racing programme describing the lack of accountability across the wider system as “f…ing horrifying”.

The physiotherapist is one of at least four staff members who tried to raise concerns with senior leadership at High Performance Sport NZ about the treatment of athletes within the women’s canoe racing programme.

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Citing the criticism from current and former staff contained in the Stuff article, the introduction to the terms of reference reads “[High Performance Sport NZ] seeks to use this moment as an opportunity to seek an independent audit of its practices and processes, including any recommendations as to how those practices and processes may be improved”.

“Any recommendations shall be considered … in good faith but for the avoidance of doubt, there shall be no obligation to implement all or any such recommendations,” the document reads.

The last major piece of work Mackinnon undertook for Sport NZ – High Performance Sport NZ’s parent organisation – was in 2015, when he reviewed the operations of the Sports Tribunal. His recommendations from that report are yet to be enacted by the government agency.

The terms of reference for the audit identifies eight current staff, including chief executive Michael Scott and the agency’s general counsel Neena Ullal, as potential interviewees. Only one person on the list was involved with the daily training environment.

If Mackinnon identifies others who may be able to assist with his enquiries, he must first seek approval from High Performance Sport NZ bosses before interviewing those persons.

Mackinnon’s work is for the purposes of identifying whether the systems in place within the agency for escalating athlete wellbeing issues are robust and how they may be improved, consider whether proposed interventions for canoe racing were appropriately implemented, and to identify whether board reporting and oversight could be improved.

High Performance Sport NZ bosses have faced a revolt within its own ranks after a Stuff investigation in August revealed six members of the elite women’s canoe racing squad had quit the team in the space of 18 months amid allegations of bullying and manipulation.

Canoe Racing NZ rejects the suggestion “that there was, or is, a culture of bullying or harassment”.

The response to the article led to claims of a “disconnect” between the senior leadership at High Performance Sport NZ, and the service providers working with the athletes in their training environments.

In announcing the independent audit over the weekend, High Performance Sport NZ boss Michael Scott admitted there have been “divergent views” across his organisation on the agency’s handling of the canoe racing programme.