In light of several recent cases in Australian sport regarding doping allegations, specifically in football and rugby, Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) President John Coates has spoken out regarding the country’s lack of government legislation surrounding anti-doping.
According to Channel News Asia, a clause in a bill which would have compelled athletes to answer questions from the Australian Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) failed to make it out of Australia’s upper house legislature back in 2013, leaving the ASADA “with its hands tied behind its back.” As such, in cases where the ASADA has no positive drug test recorded, the organization has no authority to compel key witnesses to sign sworn statements.
Such was the case in the ASADA’s decision not to appeal the acquittal of 34 professional Australian Rules’ footballers accused of taking banned supplement Thymosin beta-4. With the lack of power to force individuals to support written statements, the organization instead turned the case over to the World Anti-Doping Agency for further processing. This was the precise type of situation the legislation was aimed at preventing have happen.
On the failure of the bill’s passing, Coates told the AOC, “We are left with an act that excuses individuals from answering questions or giving information if the answer or the information might tend to incriminate them.”
This report is in direct contrast to most athletes, sporting advocates and federations around the globe who are looking for more stringent anti-doping legislation with the 2015 FINA Worlds fast-approaching, as well as the 2016 Olympics just about 15 months away.
Test them , prove the test positive, retest , confirm positive test ….
BAN THEM FOR THE MAX !
Simple really , all the rest is political mumble swerve and speculation.
There has been a massive power play stemming from the Thorpe case involving the former government & the ASDA & the AOC. Most of the former heirarchy at the ASDA were forced out & replaced by Fed Gov apparatchiks . These are as clueless as they are ambitious .
Having witnessed the spectacle of a desperate government ‘s Minister for Sport announcing # TheBlackestDayInAustralian Sport in feb 2013 , nothing has of it because everything was conjecture & unproven . You have to have some evidence to present not just a list of composite possibilities & probabilities . They wanted to be world famous & jumped too soon .
The aim was to grab prosecution & customs powers for the… Read more »
To the downticker, I note you put forward zilch , that you have nothing that would negate my argument .
The fact that this is a PR missive from the AOC cannot be be stressed enough. They do not represent Ausyralia , just themselves.
Sigh. This stuff is so annoying.