Swimming Australia should never have put coach Scott Volkers in charge of the national women’s team, a royal commission has been advised.
The child sex abuse inquiry has also been advised by its chief counsel to find the swimming body did not follow its own mandatory screening policy by not asking Volkers about his suitability to work with children.
Counsel assisting Gail Furness said that before employing Volkers as head coach, Swimming Australia knew he was the subject of sex abuse allegations from three former students in the 1980s.
But the body did not know and did not take steps to find out the details of those allegations, Ms Furness said in her submission, which was released on Friday.
“Swimming Australia should have carried out its own internal investigation into the allegations against Mr Volkers, applying the balance of probabilities as the standard of proof, prior to employing him as national women’s head coach,” Ms Furness said.
“In the circumstances, Swimming Australia should not have employed Mr Volkers as national women’s head.”
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