Crow’s crash renews call to review top cop’s board role
SA Police boss Grant Stevens’ job on the Adelaide Crows board is again under scrutiny after a high-profile team player was charged by police.
SA Police and the Adelaide Crows have both said Police Commissioner Grant Stevens “had no involvement” in the fallout from a high-profile player’s recent traffic accident, despite Stevens’ role as a club board member.
But former SA Attorney General Chris Sumner has renewed his concerns that the commissioner’s role with the footy club was an “institutional conflict” that should be scrutinised more deeply than the commissioner excusing himself from this one case.
His comments come after Adelaide Crows defender Josh Worrell was charged by police on Wednesday after allegedly hitting a pedestrian in a traffic accident on his way to training.
Worrell has said that he transported a 29-year-old pedestrian to the hospital after the accident, and has since been charged with aggravated driving without due care and will face court.
Sumner said a May article he wrote for InDaily “anticipated the problem” of an incident like this one raising questions about the commissioner’s involvement from either a police or Crows board perspective.
Sumner also raised his concerns about a potential conflict of interest over the Police Commissioner being a member of the Crows board in a letter to Police Minister Michael Brown and the Public Sector Employment Commissioner last month, but he said the letter had been unanswered.
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Commissioner Grant Stevens was appointed to the Crows board in December last year, replacing outgoing board member and former club Hall of Famer Mark Ricciuto.
“The incident involving Crows player Josh Worrall highlights the inadvisability of a Police Commissioner being a director of the Adelaide Football Club,” Sumner said.
Sumner called on the Police Minister to explain whether the state government had approved the commissioner’s board spot and what conditions were imposed.
“There is an institutional conflict between the Police Commissioner’s statutory duty as a public officer and the role on a large commercial enterprise where the obligation is to act in the best interest of the company,” Sumner said.
“The Adelaide Football Club is not a small community sporting club but a substantial private commercial enterprise, part of a billion-dollar industry which is the AFL.
“There is a myriad of circumstances where conflict can arise…This means that the Police Commissioner cannot be on the Crows Board in a “private capacity”.
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“The government is constitutionally responsible for the police force and needs to explain,” Sumner said.
Police Minister Michael Brown said he had spoken with Police Commissioner Grant Stevens about the Worrell incident and was “fully satisfied that SAPOL is managing any actual or perceived conflicts of interest that may arise from the commissioner’s board membership appropriately”.
“Public Service Chief Executives and statutory office holders have ongoing responsibility under the Public Sector (Honesty and Accountability) Act 1995 and their contracts of employment or instruments of appointment to disclose pecuniary interests and any conflicts of interest or potential conflicts of interest in writing to the relevant Minister and to take any action as required by the Minister,” Brown said.
“The Police Commissioner has complied with these requirements.
“I respect Mr Sumner’s contribution to public life and his right to express his opinion as a private citizen.”
When asked by InDaily about whether the commissioner declared a conflict of interest in relation to the incident involving Worrell and whether Stevens heard about the Worrell incident through SA Police or the Crows football club, SA Police responded with a statement from a spokesperson.
“Commissioner Grant Stevens has not had any involvement in this investigation,” a police spokesperson said.
“South Australia Police has established processes to identify and manage any actual, perceived, or potential conflicts of interest. Where a conflict is identified, appropriate steps are taken to ensure it is effectively managed in accordance with accepted governance principles.”
When asked if the Police Commissioner was contacted or provided any advice on the incident, an Adelaide Crows spokesperson said the commissioner “had no involvement whatsoever”.
Crows Chair John Olsen said in a statement, “the Club adheres to clear and strict governance procedures to manage conflicts or perceived conflicts of interest”.
“Any person with a conflict absents themselves or is eliminated from all discussions, communications and decisions relating to the matter in question,” Olsen said.
Worrell will face court at a later date.
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