An independent audit of the $445,000 given to Athletics Australia for a program at the centre of allegations against Senator Nova Peris found no misuse of the money, despite an overspend in its Indigenous department of $140,000, the Australian Sports Commission has said.
The Australian federal police has also confirmed it has been evaluating a referral from Peris on “a number of matters” since 2 October, after leaked intimate emails between the Northern Territory senator and the Trinidadian Olympic medallist Ato Boldon prompted accusations she had sought public funds to help carry out an affair.
At the time Peris was an Athletics Australia ambassador and communications officer for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. She was then married to Daniel Batman.
Peris sought funds through Athletics Australia for Boldon to come to Australia in April 2010 as an ambassador for Jump Start to London – a national talent and identification project program for young Indigenous athletes – as well as through various Indigenous groups, the Commonwealth Bank, Collingwood Football Club and Channel Ten, the NT News alleged.
“Ato … tell me babe … what u want … Make a bit of money and spend time together … I will take time of [sic] from work to be with u,” read an email from Peris.
In one email she said it was “not in the budget” to bring out high-profile athletes, so she was seeking grants from Indigenous organisations.
On Wednesday Peris and Boldon strenuously denied the allegations aired in the NT News. Boldon said the report included “gross fabrications” and threatened legal action.
Athletics Australia on Wednesday confirmed it had paid for Boldon’s flights and accommodation but said he had “capably fulfilled his role as mentor and ambassador and provided a boost to the profile of the program and for the sport of athletics in general”.
A spokesman for the Australian Sports Commission – which provided $445,000 to Athletics Australia for the purpose of running Jump Start to London – told Guardian Australia on Thursday that a number of ambassadors were engaged by Athletics Australia “to help deliver the program and inspire children”.
“The use of sports ambassadors for programs like this is common,” he said. “[Athletics Australia] has fully acquitted the funds provided, including independent auditor confirmation that they were spent for the purposes they were provided.”
A 2009-10 financial report from Athletics Australia identified a $140,000 overspend in the Indigenous department, which included the national talent and identification project, but it said “nothing untoward” had been discovered.
The overspend was found in early April 2010 and the previous chief executive was notified, as was department manager at the time, Sally McGrady. McGrady, also a co-organiser of Jump Start to London, had by then submitted her resignation and was seeking treatment for cancer. She died in early 2013.
In answer to questions from Guardian Australia, an Athletics Australia spokesman said it was the departmental budget as a whole – including Jump Start to London – which was overspent.
“But as noted in our annual report, nothing untoward was found in the departmental accounts after a thorough investigation. It was attributed to poor controls and staff having ‘a strong desire to deliver the projects in a very thorough fashion’.”
Peris’s office referred questions about funding to Athletics Australia. She was expected to address the Senate on Thursday in relation to the accusations.
Senior Labor figures have spoken in support of Peris, who was elected to the upper house in 2013 after she was named by former prime minister Julia Gillard as her preferred Labor candidate for the Northern Territory.
Many criticised the publication of personal emails, even if the senator had questions to answer about the allegations.
The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, said Peris had the “resolute” support and confidence of the Labor party. He said he had spoken with Peris “at length” and she had denied any wrongdoing.
The Senate leader, Penny Wong, said it was a “gross invasion” of privacy and that public figures and the wider Australian community “deserve better”. “There is no public interest in the publication of private correspondence today that bears no relationship whatsoever to Senator Peris’s role as a parliamentarian,” she said.
The Northern Territory shadow attorney general, Michael Gunner, said he couldn’t comment on the “personal matters” but he respected her work as a senator.
“I wasn’t there, and I’m not aware of what happened with Nova as a senator, but I know … that she’s done her job well and she’s been a good senator for the Northern Territory,” said Gunner, who added he felt sympathy for Peris and others in the article who had to deal with the publication of the emails.
“Sometimes emails will fall into the public interest, and sometimes they will fall into what the public are interested in,” he said. “That’s a constant test that journalists and editors are going to have to go through for a long time.”
