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Posted: 2024-07-31 02:21:22

Collingwood president Jeff Browne says he has full faith in chief executive Craig Kelly following allegations he made slurs and jokes about Indigenous culture.

Warning: This story contains language that some audience members may find distressing.

The football club is being sued by its former head of First Nations strategy, Mark Cleaver, according to documents filed in the Federal Circuit and Family Court.

Mr Browne said today that a review of the allegations found no breach of workplace laws, and that he had full faith in Mr Kelly.

"Totally and absolutely," he said.

The court documents outline a series of alleged incidents involving Mr Kelly, including accusations that he described a female Indigenous elder as "a dumb old b***h".

Mr Cleaver, who is non-binary and described himself in his application as a First Nations person who is gay, in a same-sex relationship and suffers from multiple sclerosis, alleged he suffered "hurt, humiliation and distress" and "economic loss" after the club terminated his employment in May this year.

Collingwood CEO Craig Kelly.

Collingwood CEO Craig Kelly was named in the court documents.(ABC: Ben Cameron)

He also alleged the club breached several laws, including the discrimination acts around race, disability and equal opportunity.

Addressing the allegations on Wednesday, Mr Browne said they were "very serious", and that the club would defend them in court.

"The allegations are not new to us, they were made initially under the whistleblower policy, which was one of the recommendations of the Do Better report," he said.

The "Do Better" review was released in 2021, after allegations of a culture of discrimination in the club. 

The independent review found the club was guilty of systematic racism and handed down 18 recommendations to the club, including a process of truth telling.

Mr Browne said the allegations had been investigated "very thoroughly by our head of people and culture", before he referred the matter to an third party who "confirmed the findings".

"I also referred those factual findings to an external expert in workplace relations. The findings were that there was no illegal conduct identified in the complaint," he said.

"Following that, the complainant lodged an application in the Fair Work Commission … There was a mediation, the mediation was unsuccessful in resolving the matter, and as a consequence of that, the complainant has now issued the proceedings in the Federal Court."

When questioned on Mr Cleaver's employment, Mr Browne said his termination was due to conduct unrelated to the complaint.

"He was brought on as a cultural affairs officer for six months … he did some very good work in establishing our Barrawarn [Indigenous employment and education] program," he said.

"And as a result of some other conduct which came to light as a result of me examining his role in the club, his role was terminated, I terminated it."

Mr Browne said he was "confident" the club had not breached any workplace laws.

"I was disappointed, obviously because there's an element of disharmony associated with that," he said.

"Racism and discrimination is a fight that goes on day by day, it never ends, that is something we're very conscious of here.

"I've got to make sure that we're operation our business here according to the law and I'm confident we are."

A group of unidentifiable players wear a Collingwood gurnsey.

Collingwood was the subject of the Do Better review.(ABC News)

Mr Browne said Mr Kelly was doing an "outstanding" job as head of the club.

"I don't think [Craig Kelly] is the sort of person that would disrespect any other person," Mr Browne said.

"From my experience he's doing an outstanding job as CEO."

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