New Athletics Australia chief executive Phil Jones acknowledges a credibility problem in the sport as a result of the country's shambolic campaign at last year's Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
Head coach Eric Hollingsworth was sent home in disgrace after publicly criticising Sally Pearson for setting a "bad example" to teammates on the eve of her 100m hurdles title defence.
Jones' predecessor as CEO, Dallas O'Brien, also parted ways with AA a couple of months later with two years left on his contract.
After being appointed as interim chief executive in December, Jones was central to the decision to appoint coach Craig Hilliard to replace Hollingsworth.
A week later, the former boss of Yachting Australia has signed on as the permanent chief executive.
"The biggest challenge is to establish a vision for the future of athletics and getting the community working towards it," he said on Tuesday.
"It seems to me that's one of the things that is perhaps absent in the sport and therefore people bunker down and protect what they've got.
"We need to look at what success is going to look like for athletics in years to come."
Central to this has been the reluctance of Little Athletics to join forces with AA, which has drawn strong criticism from the Australian Sports Commission.
AA and the ASC launched separate reviews into the sport in the wake of the Commonwealth Games campaign.
"A lot of sports go through issues and certainly Glasgow was a significant issue for this one, but I'm not sure that this necessarily impacts future events," said Jones.
"The issue for us is to address things within our control - making sure we are properly represented and properly prepared at the major events.
"It was damaging, there's no question about it. But if we put our best foot forward, that can be addressed."
Jones said AA should aim to host more major international track and field meets, with the prospect of a first-ever athletics world championships in Australia being a long-term goal.
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