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This was published 7 years ago
Ex-Wallabies Nick Farr-Jones, Jim Williams and Bruce Worboys caught up in Learn Earn Legend loan controversy
By Georgina Robinson
Former NSW Rugby Union chairman Nick Farr-Jones authorised the use of $56,000 in funds earmarked for Indigenous education to make a secret mortgage payment on behalf of former Wallaby Jim Williams.
The loan, made in August last year using money allocated to the federal government-funded Learn Earn Legend program run by NSWRU and co-ordinated by Williams, was made without the approval or knowledge of the NSWRU board or the Learn Earn Legend advisory committee, and was not repaid until March this year.
Farr-Jones and then-NSWRU executive director Bruce Worboys say they organised the loan after Williams confronted them in severe financial stress over the mortgage on his three-bedroom home in Allawah. The trio kept the $56,000 transaction secret for more than six months until the NSWRU finance department discovered the anomaly and raised the matter with Worboys.
Former NSW Rugby Union chairman Nick Farr-Jones.Credit: Louise Kennerley
A spokesman from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, which is responsible for Learn Earn Legend-branded programs, said it was investigating the circumstances surrounding the loan and the program's administration.
"The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet is aware of alleged issues relating to funding provided to the NSWRU," the spokesman said in a written statement.
"The department takes all allegations involving ... serious non-compliance with the terms and conditions of its funding agreements seriously. As the matter is under assessment further comment cannot be made at this time."
A NSWRU official said the money was not "linked to, or paid from, the Learn Earn Legend program". This appears at odds with Farr-Jones' account of the transaction which, he said, was arranged at haste when an "emotionally beaten up" Williams confronted Worboys at NSWRU headquarters in Moore Park on August 21 last year.
Loan recipient: Jim Williams.Credit: James Brickwood
"I didn't have the cash at the time, Bruce didn't have the cash at the time, Bruce said to me 'Nick there is this amount sitting in the LEL program, which is surplus, we could use that'," Farr-Jones said.
"Bruce was confident he could ... organise the loan to be refinanced and the debt to be repaid. Plus, Jim gave him assurances. Effectively I was comfortable with that and I was comfortable on the basis that I would guarantee the loan. There is no written guarantee but it was always my word. I was chairman for four years, I've put thousands of hours into it for no compensation.
Bruce Worboys says he and Farr-Jones were 'let down' by Williams.Credit: Matt Bedford
"Technically, you probably should have sought consent of the board but I made that decision [not to] given the circumstances."
Farr-Jones, a World Cup-winning former Wallabies captain who is now a director of global firm Taurus Funds Management, confirmed he repaid the loan in full in March this year with the help of one other person, whose name he did not disclose.
"A NSWRU staff member found himself in a critical financial position with likely potentially very negative consequences for his family including two young children," he said.
"As chairman of NSWRU I accepted the short-term recommendation of a senior executive and short-term financial assistance was provided via a short-term loan, fully documented and repaid from memory within six months."
Farr-Jones stepped down as NSWRU chairman in September last year, three weeks after authorising the loan. Worboys, who built a 30-year career in community and country rugby administration in NSW, resigned with a little less than a year left on his contract shortly after explaining the situation to the NSWRU finance department and board. Williams' contract was not renewed when it expired later that month. Williams is now working with Ellavation, an Indigenous employment and mentoring foundation run by the Ella brothers Mark, Glen and Gary Ella and their sister, Marcia Ella-Duncan.
Learn Earn Legend is a brand used by a number of sporting organisations to promote their Indigenous education and employment programs funded under the former federal Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations' Indigenous Employment Program. In 2013 the brand was brought in under the control of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and has been funded from there ever since.
According to figures provided by the department, the NSWRU received $629,206 between 2012 and 2016 to run the program. Farr-Jones, who was instrumental in setting up the program, sat on its advisory committee alongside Mark Ella, department liaison Steven Clarke and education consultant Malcolm Kinns. He recruited Williams, an Indigenous Test back rower and former Wallabies assistant coach regarded highly in rugby circles, as program co-ordinator.
According to Farr-Jones, the program boasted a 100 per cent success rate transitioning young Indigenous students to either employment or higher education after the completion of high school. A departmental media release in 2014 recorded 17 students moving from school to university or full-time work in the previous two years.
NSWRU chairman Roger Davis, who succeeded Farr-Jones last year, said by the time he took over any outstanding loans had been repaid.
"I don't want to comment on activities that occurred before I was chairman," Davis said. "I came on at balance sheet time and we were comfortable with the results that were recorded. What happened before was not my problem. If there were problems they were all solved by the time I came on board and I thanked Nick [Farr-Jones] and Bruce [Worboys] for their service to the game when they moved on."
The NSWRU is now run by chairman Davis and chief executive Andrew Hore, who took over from Greg Harris in mid-April.
"Over the last nine months the executive and board of the NSWRU has changed substantially and all parties associated with the aforementioned loan have long since retired," an official said.
Worboys said he and Farr-Jones were let down by Williams.
"Our actions were for the welfare of an employee with no intention of deceit or deception," he said. "We were badly let down and have been again now."
Williams declined to comment when contacted.