House of Representatives

Explanatory Memorandum

(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Youth and Sport, Senator the Hon Richard Colbeck)

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The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority Amendment (Enhancing Australia's Anti-Doping Capability) Bill 2019 improves the ability of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) to perform its functions within an increasingly complex and sophisticated doping environment.

In August 2017, the then Minister for Sport requested a Review of Australia's Sports Integrity Arrangements (Wood Review), as part of the work being done by the Australian Government to develop a National Sport Plan. The report of the Wood Review was delivered to the then Minister in March 2018 and published on 1 August 2018.

The Wood Review is the most comprehensive examination of sports integrity arrangements ever undertaken in Australia, if not the world. It found sports are challenged by a range of mounting integrity threats, which include the increasing sophistication and incidence of doping, the globalisation of sports wagering, particularly through rapidly growing illegal online gambling markets, the infiltration and exploitation of the sports sector by organised crime, corruption in sports administration and growing participant protection issues - particularly the sexual abuse of minors in sporting environments.

The Wood Review found doping is more prevalent and widespread than ever among athletes at all levels, and is facilitated by the increasing availability of highly sophisticated techniques that make it harder to detect. The Wood Review also found serious and organised crime is involved in the supply of performance and image enhancing drugs and the current suite of statutory protections and powers under the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority Act 2006 (ASADA Act) is not sufficient to facilitate ASADA's increasing emphasis on intelligence-based investigations.

The Wood Review made a number of recommendations including legislative amendments, principally to the ASADA Act, to allow ASADA's existing regulatory functions to be carried out more effectively. These amendments provide for these recommendations, with the principal effects to include:

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streamlining the administrative phase of the statutory anti-doping rule violation process;

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extending statutory protection against civil actions to cover other persons in their exercise of Anti-Doping Rule Violation functions;

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facilitating better information sharing between ASADA and National Sporting Organisations (NSOs) through enhancing statutory protections for information provided to an NSO by ASADA; and

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strengthening ASADA's disclosure notice regime.

Financial Impact Statement

There is no financial impact associated with this Bill.