Coach v Member (with Australian Weightlifting Federation)

This is an appeal of the NST General Division determination in Member v Coach (with AWF) NST-E22-288741.

The Appellant is a coach and member of the Australian Weightlifting Federation (AWF). The Respondent is also a member of AWF and was the Applicant in the General Division matter. In the General Division, the NST determined that two incidents in January 2022 constituted bullying, harassment and/or discrimination by the Appellant, in breach of AWF’s Member Protection Policy (MPP), and sanctions were imposed for the breaches.

Before the Appeals Division, the Appellant appealed the General Division decision on the grounds that he was denied natural justice and that the sanctions imposed were disproportionate to the conduct alleged. The Tribunal was conducted substantially in accordance with the NST legislation which allows parties to have legal representation. The sport’s policy prohibited legal representation for this matter in the General Division.

The Tribunal was required to determine if there were exceptional circumstances to admit new evidence lodged by the parties, and which evidence before the General Division should be before it. The Tribunal determined that the Appellant was not denied natural justice by the First Instance Tribunal and, having considered all admissible evidence, dismissed the Appeal and upheld the complaint made by the Respondent. The Tribunal did determine that it was appropriate to vary the sanctions imposed on the Appellant.