WAIS chief executive Steve Lawrence offers to step aside from investigation into allegations of alleged abuse

The chief executive of the WA Institute of Sport will not be involved in the investigation into allegations of alleged abuse of gymnasts amid perceived conflict of interest concerns. The West Australian confirmed WAIS chief executive Steve Lawrence had offered to step aside from the process after gymnasts raised concerns because he had been director of WAIS during the time when some of the abuse allegedly occurred. Dozens of gymnasts have now come forward with allegations they were abused at WAIS during their time in the program, which ran from 1988 to 2016. There is no suggestion whatsoever Mr Lawrence was in any way involved in any of the alleged conduct. Former WAIS gymnast Julia Murcia, who has formed Gymnast Alliance Australia to represent the women, said they now had 62 complainants. Allegations include physical abuse, the body shaming of youngsters, including that they were berated if their skin folds were too high, and verbal abuse. WAIS, which apologised this week, was in discussions with the gymnasts about the terms of reference for a Sports Integrity Australia investigation. But the gymnasts raised concerns about Mr Lawrence’s perceived conflict of interest. “We felt all along that Mr Lawrence was (perceived to be) conflicted and that may go some way to explain why it’s taken so long to finalise the terms of reference for the SIA review, given we’ve had to negotiate them through him,” Ms Murcia, pictured right, said. Mr Lawrence has worked for WAIS since 1984 and was appointed chief executive in 2001. He also at times measured the skin folds of gymnasts. WAIS board chairman Neil McLean said the move to not involve Mr Lawrence was designed to “ensure the SIA investigation was conducted with absolute independence and to avoid any potential inference of a conflict of interest”. “WAIS CEO, Steve Lawrence, will remain in his position as CEO with the full support of the board but will not be directly involved in framing the terms of reference of the investigation or its activities,” Mr McLean said. “We have full confidence in Steve and in his ability to lead WAIS ... However, in the best interests of the investigation and the parties involved, it has been decided that he will not be involved in the investigative process from now on.” According to WAIS, Mr Lawrence has said he will “continue to co-operate fully with the SIA and the investigation as the process played out”. It came as Sports Minister Tony Buti said he was unhappy the Government had little legal power over WAIS despite providing most of its funding. Dr Buti told The West he had asked the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries to investigate whether “the current governance model for WAIS is delivering optimum outcomes”. He said he had met athletes this week and was distressed by their allegations.