Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Leyonhjelm for his question and for some advance notice of it. World anti-doping is founded on equal contributions from sports and governments acting in close collaboration, particularly through the operation of the World Anti-Doping Agency. Over 175 governments, including Australia, commit to anti-doping through being a state party to the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport. As a result, those governments agree to abide by the principles of the World Anti-Doping Code, which sets out uniform anti-doping rules to ensure the global response to doping is consistently applied. This is for the benefit of athletes competing on a level playing field and also, importantly, to protect athlete health.

A failure by a government to comply with the requirements of the UNESCO convention may result in its ineligibility to host major sporting events, such as the highly successful Cricket World Cup and Asian football tournament hosted earlier this year, amongst other consequences. International sporting federations also require respective national federations to implement anti-doping policies compliant with the code to be eligible to participate in international competitions. Many governments give effect to the obligations of the code through the operation of a national anti-doping organisation.

Past experience with doping matters shows the necessity of a dedicated capability enshrined in agencies such as ASADA to support sports to meet the requirements and to maintain a level of independence. It ensures that the anti-doping effort is appropriately resourced and capable of meeting the challenges of modern doping practices, particularly through investigations and intelligence. Without this, many sports would lack the capacity to administer an anti-doping program. Most sports lack the capabilities and, thus, work closely with anti-doping organisations on violation matters.