The Australian Sports Commission is being sued for allegedly failing to act against sex abuse claims raised by a high-performance para-athlete and employee of the Australian Institute of Sport.
It is alleged the 24-year-old woman was physically and sexually assaulted by her then partner at the AIS in Canberra on four separate occasions in 2020.
It's further claimed the organisation was made aware of the abuse, but did nothing to stop it and continued to roster the pair on for work together.
Shine Lawyers Abuse Legal practice manager Thomas Wallace-Pannell maintained the AIS and ASC had failed the athlete.
"We allege the institution charged with helping her live her dreams ended up crushing them, and that the ASC, as the governing body of the AIS, failed in its duty of care to protect our client from her abuser."
The claim is said to be one of the first of its kind filed against the organisation and follows the ASC's formal apology to abuse survivors in May 2021.
The Commission also established its own restorative justice program.
Wallace-Pannell said the program was simply a way of preventing both recent and historical abuse within the organisation from coming to light.
"The program to compensate survivors is grossly inadequate and does not represent anything close to 'restoration' of the permanent harms inflicted on our country's most promising and talented athletes at the AIS," he said.
