Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to speak in support of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority Amendment (Sport Integrity Australia) Bill 2019, as it addresses important issues for our country. This bill implements a key recommendation of the 2018 review of Australia's sports integrity arrangements, led by the Hon. James Wood AO QC—that is, the recommendation to give one agency responsibility for several sports integrity functions of the Australian government.

So, why is sport so important? There are a few reasons. Sport is big business. The global sports market, not including wagering, has an estimated turnover of US$1.5 trillion. The overall size of the sports market in Australia was estimated to be $27 billion in 2015, including the $10 billion annually that Australians pay for participation in sport and other physical activity. The Intergenerational review of Australian sport 2017 estimated the sector's contribution to the Australian economy to be two to three per cent of gross domestic product, employing more than 220,000 people. Sport also attracts around 1.8 million volunteers—a massive number, considering that the number of people volunteering Australia-wide was estimated at only twice that number in the last census.

The sports wagering market, which was a particular focus of the Wood review, is growing rapidly and had an estimated turnover of $9.7 billion in 2015-16. This was a 35 per cent increase from the previous year—by far, the fastest growth for any Australian gambling sector. If you throw racing into the mix, the turnover reached a staggering $28.1 billion in 2015-16. So, whether it is TV rights, wagering, sponsorship, ticket sales, membership subscription or any other aspect of financing sport, from the elite level right down to the grassroots, sport is one of Australia's biggest industry sectors.

Like any business, we expect sport to be conducted in a genuinely competitive environment. We expect a level playing field. We know that, like any other area of business, success in sport leads to commercial advantages, sponsorship, prize money and promotion in higher levels of competition. Just like any other area of business, people who do the right thing suffer when others get an advantage by unfair means. In sport, unfair advantage can include such things as match-fixing, bribery, taking performance-enhancing substances or other forms of cheating. When a club or athlete benefits financially from these offences, it means that others who are playing fair lose out. But the consequences aren't just financial.

Another reason that sport integrity is important is because of the way sport is woven into the daily lives of Australians. It is an integral part of our culture. The intergenerational review found that 90 per cent of Australian adults have an interest in sport and that 8.4 million adults and three million children participate in sport each year. It's a great Aussie tradition to go to sports matches on the weekend, to watch grand finals over a barbie with family and friends or to make weekly trips to junior sports matches with the kids. Most Australians have some kind of connection to sport, even if it's just sitting on the couch watching footy or playing a game of backyard cricket at a family barbecue.

The fact is that when people cheat in sport—whether its through doping, bribery or match-fixing—it lessens our enjoyment as participants or as spectators. If we lose trust in the integrity of sport, we lose interest. And, if we lose interest, we stop playing, we stop attending and we stop watching. But sport itself is not the only victim when this happens. A drop in participation also means the loss of many benefits that come with sport. It has consequences for the health and wellbeing of Australians, it has consequences for community cohesiveness and social inclusion, and it has consequences for the Australian economy. The danger is summarised in the Wood review as follows:

Without the presence of a comprehensive, effective and nationally coordinated response capability, the hard-earned reputation of sport in this country risks being tarnished, along with a potential reduction in participation rates and a diminution in the social, cultural and economic value of Australia’s significant investment in sport.

Emerging threats to sport integrity are nothing new. Australia has had its fair share of scandals in elite sport over the years, and each scandal usually brings with it a collective feeling of disappointment and betrayal.

Some notable examples of scandals in recent history include the controversy in 1994 and 1995 when a bookmaker gave money to Australian cricketers for pitch and weather information; the 2002 Carlton Football Club and 2010 Melbourne Storm salary cap breaches; the 2013 report of the Australian Crime Commission, which reported that organised crime had infiltrated sports, including Rugby League and Australian Rules football, to distribute prohibited substances; also in 2013, the Melbourne Football Club tanking scandal; in 2016, the suspension of 34 Essendon Football Club players over their use of prohibited substances; and, in 2018, ball tampering—the scandal which saw three members of Australia's cricket team suspended.

There are also emerging global threats to integrity in sport that have the potential to affect sport in Australia. To highlight some of these threats to integrity, the Wood review report quoted a 2016 report by Transparency International entitled Global Corruption Report: Sport. The report stated:

Referees and athletes can take bribes to fix matches. Club owners can demand kickbacks for player transfers. Companies and governments can rig bids for construction contracts. Organised crime is behind many of the betting scandals that have dented sport's reputation. And money laundering is widespread. This can take place through sponsorship and advertising arrangements. Or it may be through the purchase of clubs, players and image rights. Complex techniques are used to launder money through football and other sports. These include cross-border transfers, tax havens and front companies.

So the sport integrity environment is constantly changing as new threats emerge.

It was noted in the Wood review that the current threat environment includes growing links between organised crime and sports wagering. Doping in sport continues to be widespread, with almost 2,000 antidoping rule violations recorded by the World Anti-Doping Agency in 2015 across 122 nationalities and 85 sports. As doping detection is becoming more sophisticated, so are the techniques used by athletes to avoid detection.

When Labor were in government, we also recognised the constantly evolving sport integrity environment and the need to evaluate and improve upon Australia's sports integrity measures. The review process builds on a couple of important initiatives by the previous Labor government—namely, establishing the National Integrity of Sport Unit in 2012 and strengthening ASADA's powers in 2013. I would like to commend Mr Wood and his panel on an excellent report, which included 52 recommendations for the government.

The government announced a two-stage approach to implementing the recommendations of the Wood review. The first stage is the subject of this bill: bringing together a range of sport integrity functions under one agency, Sport Integrity Australia. The functions that are proposed to be looked after by SIA are currently the responsibility of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority—or ASADA—the National Integrity of Sport Unit and Sport Australia.

As the Wood review notes, creating SIA will draw together the knowledge and expertise that is brought to bear in defending sport integrity. It will also assist in coordinating all the elements of the response to sport integrity threats, including prevention, monitoring, detection, investigation and enforcement. The second stage would then establish mechanisms to achieve the full suite of sports integrity capabilities proposed by the Wood review. The government, I note, has already started work on part of stage two, as we saw the reforms aimed at enhancing Australia's antidoping capability introduced to parliament at the same time as this bill. That legislation is now before a Senate inquiry.

Protecting integrity in sport has bipartisan support, and Labor will continue the bipartisan approach by supporting this bill. I'd like to acknowledge the extensive work done by our shadow minister for sport, Senator Farrell, in informing Labor's position on the bill, including consulting with stakeholders and looking at submissions to the Senate inquiry into the bill. It's only fair to also acknowledge the current minister for sport, Senator Colbeck, and the former minister, Senator McKenzie, for their cooperation in facilitating briefings to the opposition on the Wood review and their response to its recommendations.

I note that the bill's financial impact statement indicates no net cost to government for this bill. This is because SIA will be funded from existing appropriations which are being spent on the agencies that are currently carrying out its functions. As I said before, this legislation is about ensuring a level playing field for clubs and athletes. It's about ensuring that the benefits of sport and health and social and economic matters are maximised. In a fair sports environment, the success or failure of sports clubs and their athletes should depend on factors such as the community benefits at the club, the dedication of the volunteers and the determination and skill of their athletes. It should not depend on cheating and it should not depend on politics.

While I welcome this legislation, I can't help but be somewhat amused by the use of the words 'sport integrity' in the bill's title given what transpired shortly before the last election. Does both the irony and the hypocrisy go unnoticed by those opposite when they talk about strengthening integrity in sport yet show so little integrity when it comes to their rorting of sports grants programs? As commendable as it is for the government to work to implement the Wood review and to tackle corruption in sport, their sports rorts scandal undermines this effort.

Those opposite legislate to tackle corruption in sport while they themselves are engaged in corrupting grant processes. We had the first sports rorts program, the Community Sport Infrastructure grants, where a merit based program usurped by a political process. Advantage was given to sports clubs not according to the benefits they could deliver for increasing participation in sport or for enriching their local communities, but on politics and geography. And while the original funding recommendations made by Sport Australia were about maximising the social and economic benefits of the funding, the decisions ultimately made by the minister were about maximising the political benefits to the Liberal and National parties. We know this because the member for Nicholls told us. We also know because this was the finding of a comprehensive report of the Auditor-General, a report which, by the way, also found that almost half of the projects were ineligible when they received funding. And it wasn't just the then minister's grubby fingerprints all over the crime scene. The Prime Minister's office and potentially a number of those opposite were involved too—to what extent, we will hopefully learn from the current Senate inquiry. As much as those opposite tried to protest that another report absolves them of the Auditor-General's finding, Mr Gaetjens' report is an absolute sham, and they know it. Those on that side of the chamber know that they cannot rely on a secret report written by the Prime Minister's former chief of staff.

Sadly though, the Community Sports Infrastructure program wasn't the end of these rorts. After the first sports rorts affair, the government then rolled out the female facilities and water safety program. This was sports rorts version 1 on steroids, with a whopping 40 per cent of the $150-million program going to two marginal electorates. The actions of those opposite in using supposedly merit based sports programs as a political slush fund undermine the good work that this bill and the remaining implementation of the Wood review seeks to do. It's no wonder that so many Australians are feeling bewildered and betrayed by the actions of this government.

I do commend the bill to the Senate, but in doing so I implore those opposite, 'Don't speak with forked tongue.' If you're going to work to ensure integrity in sport, then this needs to extend to sports infrastructure funding too. It's time to come clean about the sports rorts affair, admit it was a rort and promise that a transparent, merit based approach will be taken to future sports infrastructure funding programs. Until the Libs and Nationals come clean about this scandal, it's hard to say that they are taking all aspects of integrity in sport seriously. Having said that, we welcome this bill, and Labor will continue to engage with stakeholders to ensure the establishment and operation of SIA are delivering on the outcomes the agency is tasked with achieving. We will also continue to monitor the government's response to the recommendations of the Wood review. The government's response needs to be as strong as possible to protect the important role that sport plays in the Australian economy, society and our way of life now and into the future.