Pat Conroy (Shortland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

I can confirm that Labor will be supporting the third reading of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority Amendment (Enhancing Australia’s Anti-Doping Capability) Bill 2019, which is a very important outcome of the Wood review into antidoping. But let's be clear about what just happened here. What happened here is that those opposite have attempted to shut down parliament because they're scared of the Leader of the Opposition.

If we're talking about antidoping, those on the other side are truly dopes. They are truly dopes. This is an important piece of legislation that comes out of the Wood review and gives ASADA important powers into confirming the antidoping regime in this country. It arose out of some very important sporting events of the last decade. Who can forget the scandals in the Manly and Essendon football clubs, where we saw vile accusations around antidoping? This is an important legislative initiative, and that is why Labor is supporting it.

This bill complements the second bill that we'll be discussing around enhancing integrity in Australia, and it's very important that we have confidence in the sporting regime in this country. The Wood review, led by Justice Wood, was a seminal moment in the sports regime in this country. It's very important that it has bipartisan commitment. Recommendation 18 from the Wood review went to many matters. Most importantly, it was about providing ASADA with the relevant powers to really get to the nub of those sports scandals. There were accusations around calf blood with Manly and Essendon, and it's very important we get to the nub of those matters.

Our second reading amendment, which, sadly, we lost the vote on, stated:

"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House notes that the Government’s revolving door of sports ministers—no less than five (plus a briefly acting minister) in just six years—have made ad hoc, one-off and non-ongoing funding announcements that have made it extremely difficult for national sports organisations, such as the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority, to make detailed plans beyond the constraints of a single budget cycle, including for the enhancement of their own integrity capabilities"

So this bill seeks to strengthen Australia's capability to prevent, detect and deal with the issue of doping in sport.

Confidence in the integrity of sport is vital and it leads us, if it fails, to question whether sporting events we love to watch are really being contested on a level playing field. In government, Labor recognised the need to upgrade and update Australia's antidoping regime to keep up with new and evolving risks. In 2012, the federal Labor government established the National Integrity of Sport Unit and in 2013 we passed legislation to strengthen the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority's powers. So this bill is a continuation of those important legislative reforms.

But let's be clear about what's occurred over the last hour. What's occurred over this last hour is the direct price being paid because those opposite want to shut down parliament. They wouldn't let the Leader of the Opposition speak on the very important matter of wages. This is the price that's being paid and, in fact—

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