Sport Legislation Amendment (World Anti-Doping Code Implementation) Bill 2026
Ms BELL (Moncrieff) (12:35): I rise to speak on the Sport Legislation Amendment (World Anti-Doping Code Implementation) Bill 2026. I want to start by talking about Australian sport and what sport means to our nation. Australia is one of the greatest sporting nations on Earth, and I think our track record shows that.
We really love our sport, not only because of what it does for our country and our community but also because of what it does for our national pride in bringing our country together as a nation and, most of all, the opportunities it brings. As the shadow minister for sport and also the shadow minister for youth and the arts, I know that sport and all the different codes bring a special opportunity for young people when it comes to participation and inclusion as well as when it comes to that very special word, 'opportunity'.
Not everyone is good at STEM—science and maths—and sport delivers an opportunity for young people who may otherwise not have the opportunity to compete or to be good at something to perhaps become a professional or, as in their wildest dreams, to be an Olympian. To be a gold, silver or bronze medallist or even participate at that level is something outstanding that Australians can aspire to.
That is why I call sport the great leveller, and I apply that rule also to the arts. It gives to young people that opportunity that they otherwise might not be able to access. Sport also delivers resilience and life lessons.
I think that's important, because it builds strength of character. And we do hold our sporting champions in the highest of esteem, even through some of those times when it could be difficult. I want to rewind a little bit, back to the Olympics in 2000, which was the first time I was privileged enough to go to an Olympics.
I think back to when we had the women's four-by-100 relay, and the outcome wasn't what we wanted; we were not successful in that race. But there was that feeling in the stand, the pride that Australians had—and continue to have—in our Olympians, when athletes are able to reach their dream and their goal of attending and competing in an Olympic Games, regardless of the outcome, regardless of whether the outcome was not a good one, as in the four-by-100 women's relay that I was in the stands to watch, or was indeed a great one, as we saw with Cathy Freeman, a gold medallist, in her race.
So sport delivers something very special. Fast-forward to the 2024 Paris Olympics, where our Aussie athletes became our most successful team ever, with 53 medals and a record number of personal bests, which is something very special. One of my favourite Olympics moments was when Kieren Perkins, a great Queenslander, was the defending Olympic champion, and he went on to win gold again in the 1996 Atlanta 1,500-metre freestyle, from lane 8, after being the slowest qualifier for that final.
That was a very special time, I'm sure, in Kieren Perkins's life, as it was for all Australians watching him succeed. Newcastle Knights fans might recognise that situation as well, if there are any in the chamber at the moment, as they came from finishing last one season to actually winning by just one point in the next season—this season, of course. These are remarkable moments of resilience for our sporting history.
We never quite know who's going to win the finals, like in the NRL, when the Penrith Panthers—I see the member for Lindsay is here. How many times in a row did they win, Member for Lindsay? I think it was three, wasn't it?
Ms BELL: More than that, I'm told. Ms BELL: Four! Do I hear five?
Of course, when sporting teams are successful, it brings communities together, and it gives us that national pride and that local pride as well—the pride that I hold for my own teams, the Gold Coast Titans, who will be premiers one day, and, of course, the Gold Coast SUNS, who also will be premiers one day. But I do digress. I want to talk about those moments of resilience as I talk about sport in our nation, and I want to talk about the big events that we have, before I get to talking about the bill.
Let's talk about the Commonwealth Games in 2018 on the Gold Coast—70 nations, 18 sports, 6,500 athletes and, of course, all of the benefits to the local community in terms of those legacy infrastructure pieces that have been left behind and now, of course, are going to be used and upgraded for the 2032 Olympics. In the 2018 Commonwealth Games, we saw, for the first time, equal medals for men and women.
I think that that is a milestone that the Gold Coast remembers fondly and that we should, as a nation, be proud of. In world cup tournaments played here or played overseas—it was great for Australia to host the women's football world cup in 2023, with a valiant effort, of course, by our magnificent Matildas. We saw how that inspired young girls around the country and, indeed, around the world.
The inspiration of the Matildas and the way they brought together our community was so important. I'll just remind Australians of the contrast, at that time, between what the coalition promised to deliver, which was $250 million in girls changing rooms across the country, and the Prime Minister's promise to have a public holiday if the Matildas were to win. I think that says volumes about the differences on this side of the chamber versus that side of the chamber.
Our men's soccer team did us proud in a thrilling world cup competition, and we have many upcoming world cups, including next year's netball. Now, that netball—we are in a countdown. We're at 316 days until the world cup netball tournament, and we are thrilled to be hosting in Australia.
I want to send a shout-out to our great Australian Liz Ellis for the work that she did in captaining the Australian netball team. We've got softball world cups coming up and the men's and women's rugby union world cups in 2027 and 2029, respectively. And there are our national competitions.
We have the magnificent AFL codes, the AFL women's code and, of course, the NRL. We have soccer. We have all of those codes that deliver participation for communities.
Whether those communities are playing a social game or rigorously participating in their chosen sport, it is about communities. In the electorate of Moncrieff, which I represent, many people participate in a sport that is known widely: surf lifesaving. I have nine surf clubs in my electorate; there are many surf clubs across the Gold Coast.
I was recently at the Kurrawa Surf Life Saving Club at Broadbeach, on the barbecue, helping out the volunteers of that great surf club. I have been advocating strongly for some years now for surf lifesaving to be included in the 2032 Olympics. As a Co-Chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Surf Lifesaving, that is something that we would like to see included in the shortlist, which I believe is due out soon.
But, most of all, I want to pay tribute to the volunteers in the surf lifesaving movement and the age captains that support our nippers. Indeed, those surf lifesaving volunteers and surf clubs are the glue that holds our community together, particularly across the Gold Coast. But Australia more broadly is indeed a great sporting nation.
It's not always about winning. It's about quality participation. It's about teamwork.
It's about the culture of a club, the culture of a sporting code and the esprit de corps that we experience with sport. It's about what sport gives to community and what community gives to sport. It's a two-way street when it comes to sport.
The Australian men's rugby team, the Wallabies, is a great testament of proud Australians and their followers are proud to be Australian, even when they're up against one of the best teams in the world. We know they were up against all dominating All Blacks on Saturday in New Zealand. They have dominated that code for a long time.
They've won the Bledisloe Cup for 24 consecutive years. They're pretty hard to beat, and the Wallabies have never won a game in New Zealand during that time. Yet our Wallabies put in a gallant effort in their games every time, and we're very proud of them.
Our rugby fans remain steadfast with their support. This is an example of how sport also comes to be about what it gives to us as a community and what it means to us as a community and as a nation. The Wallabies are indeed a great example of how much Australians love our sport and how much sport is indeed part of our culture.
A big shout out to Surfers Paradise Rugby Union Club, which has bred many champions that have played for the Wallabies on the world stage. It's a respected game. The rules are respected and the international competition, indeed, is respected.
That fair competition is at the heart of this legislation that we are debating today, and I mentioned that sport is also about what it gives to a community and what it can do for us as a nation. I just want to touch on the Brisbane 2032 Olympics while I have the opportunity. These games will bring significant economic, infrastructural and social benefits across Queensland and, of course, across Australia.
The Queensland Crisafulli government is to be congratulated. It's done a great job to ensure that Queensland benefits from the games. It's not just South-East Queensland.
All Queenslanders will be able to benefit from the 2032 Olympics. The rowing event is a great example of that. Just last week I was up in Rockhampton with my very good friend the member for Capricornia visiting the rowing precinct on the mighty Fitzroy River, as it's known to central Queenslanders, a place where Australians have been rowing with great success for many years.
I met with the President of the Rockhampton Rowers and Fitzroy Rowing Club, Sarah Black. Sarah and her family have been rowing on the Fitzroy River for generations, and she has two young children that will continue that. The club is so excited about the opportunity the Olympics and the Paralympics are going to deliver for central Queenslanders and indeed for young people.
The Brisbane 2032 Olympic Committee, together with the IOC and the Queensland Liberal-National Party government, has approved and back in Rockhampton as the location for the Olympic rowing, and as do I, as does the member for Capricornia and the Leader of the Nationals, Senator Canavan. However, the Minister for Sport has not backed it in and has not visited the rowing precinct in Rockhampton.
Maybe it's because she's too busy doing other things like working out how to pay her fines for making the taxpayer fork out for her to attend interstate birthday parties on a Saturday night or planning another trip to New York. I don't know why the Minister for Sport has not backed in the 2032 Olympic rowing venue in Rockhampton. It's dumbfounding to me why a minister for sport wouldn't support that.
It's a mystery in fact. Shame on this minister, who seems to have limited interest in rowing and certainly limited interest in regional Queensland and regional Queenslanders. But to get to the legislation, I want to talk about Australia as a world leader in sport integrity.
Australia has a longstanding record of supporting clean, fair and safe sport. As a signatory to the UNESCO Anti-Doping convention and as the Oceania Representative on the World Anti-Doping Association, or WADA, Executive Committee and associated committees, Australia, through Sport Integrity Australia, has been integral in shaping the World Anti-Doping Code. The World Anti-Doping Code provides the framework that allows athletes to compete under the same core anti-doping rules wherever they are in the world and allows countries to host international sporting competitions.
It's updated every six years. The last time it was updated was in 2019, for implementation by member countries in 2021, which is exactly what we did under the former, coalition, Morrison government in 2021. For this iteration, following a two-year global review by WADA, the code was approved in December 2025 and will begin on 1 January 2027.
Specifically, the 2027 code strengthens the effectiveness, the fairness and the consistency of the international anti-doping system, including through enhanced operational independence; improved athlete appeal rights, which is very important for fairness; and updated public disclosure provisions. I'll talk to these in more detail shortly. Australia, through Sport Integrity Australia, participated throughout the review process, working with athletes, sporting organisations, the National Sports Tribunal, the Australian Sports Drug Medical Advisory Committee, the Australian Sports Commission, peak sporting bodies and Australian anti-doping experts.
To maintain a globally harmonised anti-doping framework, all code signatories, including Australia, are in the process of reviewing and updating their frameworks to comply with the revised code and international standards by 1 January 2027. Implementing the changes to comply with the new code will involve passing this bill, which updates the legislation, which is necessary.
It's necessary so that Australia can host major competitions and it's necessary so that we can compete in major competitions. Sport Integrity Australia, the agency responsible for combating doping in sport in Australia, will take the lead in the implementation of this work and has already been working with sports stakeholders to ensure that Australia implements the 2027 code ahead of 1 January 2027.
With 10 weeks to run, however—only 10 weeks to go and a couple of sitting weeks left in the year—why has the minister taken so long and left it so late to introduce the 12 pages of legislation into the parliament? Here we are with just a couple of weeks left to go. We haven't seen it before now.
It was passed by WADA in 2025, which begs the question: why has it taken more than a year to get here to this point today in the chamber? The minister noted in her speech that Sport Integrity Australia has already begun implementation activities, before the legislation is passed, so they're ahead of the game. It's interesting that the minister needs to note that, given that she has left it very late to introduce this into the parliament, putting pressure on hardworking public servants to deliver this in time while she has caused the delay.
You have to ask what the minister has been doing. She seems to be too busy travelling to New York, too busy paying the fines for making taxpayers pay for her to attend interstate birthday parties on a Saturday night and too busy playing with Ooshies—Ooshie, Ooshie, Ooshie! Oi, oi, oi!—in her Canberra office.
It's important that our athletes, our coaches and sports administrators, who give everything a fair go, should have trust they are competing in a fair contest. I'll come back to this concept of trust, but those at home listening may recall international investigations into Russian sport that identified institutional involvement in doping practices and the manipulation of samples and interference with anti-doping processes.
I want to talk about that. These findings led to significant international consequences and demonstrated the harm that systemic doping can cause to clean athletes and confidence in international competition. That is why the world anti-doping laws remain important for Australia to implement.
I'd like to talk about the specific amendments to the Sport Integrity Australia Act 2020 and the National Sports Tribunal Act 2019. First, this bill makes amendments to strengthen athletes' appeal rights in relation to therapeutic use exemption decisions. Athletes will now be able to seek a review of therapeutic use exemption decisions through the National Sports Tribunal.
This means that athletes who have been denied approval to use a legitimate medical substance or method which is usually prohibited in a sporting context can take their case to a national, independent appeal body. Second, the independence of Australia's anti-doping system will indeed be reinforced by transferring responsibility for imposing consequences from sports bodies to Sport Integrity Australia.
The 2027 code requires greater operational independence in the administration of antidoping programs. This avoids potential conflicts of interest where a sporting organisation is responsible for those decisions affecting athletes in their sport. The Sport Integrity CEO will issue provisional suspensions and sanctions where an antidoping violation may have been committed.
Third, the new approach to publication on the Sport Integrity Australia violations list balances the public interest with privacy safeguards and further protects vulnerable participants, and I think that's important. While the code still requires a public-facing list on antidoping violations that have occurred, there is now a broader scope to exclude athletes in certain circumstances.
This includes those who have not been found to have committed an offence or who are not at fault. With respect to minors, protected persons and recreational athletes, there will be a greater consideration of whether publishing the details of a violation will be in the best interest of that individual while balancing that with the public interest. Finally, the bill updates the Sport Integrity Australia Act definition of an 'athlete' to remove the domestic rule that automatically treats a person as an athlete for six months after they last competed.
These changes bring the act into line with the definition and technical instruments recognised under the international antidoping framework, so it's simply a domestic update to the international framework. I would like to come back to the concept of trust. It seems to be some behaviour from those opposite, but I'm glad that Sport Integrity Australia are the ones that are implementing the changes associated with this bill and that it doesn't rely on ministerial power or an increase in ministerial direction to do anything, because the minister has displayed concerning behaviour in terms of saying one thing but doing completely another.
What is the job of the Minister for Sport, after all? It's to support sport for all Australians—well, not this minister. The minister didn't back in the IOC approved, the Brisbane 2032 Olympics committee approved and the magnificent Queensland LNP government approved decision of Rockhampton rowing as the facility for the 2032 Olympics.
Shame on the minister. The member for Capricornia and I invited—and we invite; it's an open invitation—the Minister for Sport to visit Rockhampton and back in this important facility for Queensland, but still there's been no show. The next issue where the minister has changed from what she said she would do relates to some recent job cuts, and this came up in Senate estimates recently.
The minister claims to be investing in sport under this government. The Australian Sports Commission has announced at least 50 jobs are required to be cut. This Labor government are having to make cuts to sport because of their addiction to spending.
When they're spending into the economy, they have to keep getting the money from somewhere, and now we're seeing 50 jobs cut from the Australian Sports Commission, which Kieren Perkins outlined at the last Senate estimates, and that's not a good thing. People losing their jobs is not a good thing. Raising taxes is not enough.
They have to keep coming for more, and now they're coming for jobs in sport. Shame on this minister. The next issue that I'd like to highlight where the minister has changed what she said she would do relates to the funding uncertainty the minister created for athletes.
Earlier this year, the minister left athletes with funding uncertainty. The Albanese Labor government dealt a $182 million blow to grassroots sport. Australian Sports Commission CEO and Olympian Kieren Perkins OAM revealed during Senate estimates that the government ignored advice to provide ongoing funding for a group of key sporting programs.
Programs that faced uncertainty beyond the next 12 months included Sporting Schools, Play Well, Local Para Champions and Local Sporting Champions. Mr Perkins said: The participation based funding programs received a one-year terminating measure status for the 2026-27 budget year … Mr Perkins warned that the Sporting Schools program alone would see close to two million children participate in free after-school sports this year and that ending the program would 'have an impact on the number of children getting the opportunity to play free sport after school'.
There goes the golden opportunity that I was talking about at the beginning of my speech! He said this lack of long-term funding certainty would 'limit those organisations' capacity to provide participation based growth programs within their sporting environments'. Despite these warnings, the Labor government stripped ongoing funding for these programs and slashed the sporting grants budget from $331 million in 2025-26 to $151 million in 2029-30.
That's a reduction of $182 million. That is not investing in sport. That is doing the opposite.
That is creating uncertainty in grassroots sports, and it's a wrecking ball for opportunity. Shame on this minister. The next issue where the minister's delivery on her policy comes into question relates to the protection of indicia and images legislation.
Recently, the minister gave chapter and verse on how critical it was to have this legislation pass so she can quickly and easily provide protection for indicia and images through legislative instruments. Earlier this month, however, the Brisbane 2032 Olympic committee announced the Olympic Games emblem as the sulphur crested cockatoo in the shape of Queensland.
You might have seen it. It's magnificent. Yet this minister has not registered the emblem for protection under the legislation.
This means that anybody can reproduce the emblem on a T-shirt, on a key ring or as a fluffy toy cockatoo and sell the product, and they would not be in breach of any copyright law at this point. Where's the legislation, Minister? This is all because the minister has failed in her duties.
What has she been doing, and what has the Prime Minister been doing about holding his sport minister to account? The Prime Minister has been ducking for cover after it was discovered that he misused public money for a golf course in his electorate, of which he was an honorary member. The chair of the Centre for Public Integrity, former justice Whealy, has said the Albanese government misused public money for pork-barrelling—with $493 million into their seats.
Former justice Whealy said: I think there's a heavy onus on the government now to justify the process it has used. If they cannot justify that process, then I think the public in Australia would be driven to the conclusion that this is the misuse of public money at a serious level. Marrickville golf course in the Prime Minister's electorate was the only golf course in Australia to be invited to the pork-barrelling scheme.
It received $6 million despite other golf courses wanting to apply. The mayor said it'll be a reno for the space for events, live music and sport. Other reports state the funding was being used to fix the septic system—cleaning up the waterways from which house prices would increase.
This would mean the Prime Minister's property, which is 200 metres away, would also skyrocket in value. There was no competitive process for the grant. Shame on the Prime Minister.
If there had been a competitive process then other sporting clubs around the country, many in my own electorate, would've been able to apply for it, because many of them actually need that support. In conclusion, the Labor government doesn't have a good track record in delivering in the sports portfolio. We need a government that governs for all Australians, not just for itself.
They need to govern to deliver opportunity for young Australians in grassroots sports, and that clearly hasn't been the case under this prime minister's government and this minister. Australia is a great sporting nation despite the failures of the Minister for Sport and the Prime Minister. It is a good thing that this legislation will be implemented by the hardworking public servants at Sport Integrity Australia, and I wish to thank them and the representatives at our NSOs, our national sport organisations, including each sporting code peak body and the important role that they play on behalf of not only grassroots sports but also their professional athletes for the work they do to make our nation the great sporting nation that it is today.
This bill follows on from the good work that the coalition delivered when we were in government. It updates Australia's world-leading antidoping legislation. I do believe that the Minister for Sport and the Prime Minister are failing the sporting fraternity.
They've created uncertainty. They obviously are under the microscope with what they've been doing with their pork-barrelling. The Minister for Sport has very limited interest in anything outside of South-East Queensland, in terms of Central Queensland or North Queensland, and the sports who will be part of the 2032 Olympics.
I congratulate those regions for what they will be receiving under the Crisafulli LNP government in Queensland. It was a delight—a pleasure, in fact—to visit the member for Capricornia last week and talk about the Rockhampton rowing club and what they are going to receive when it comes to hosting an event in Rockhampton. It will help locally.
It will help the community. It will help small and family businesses who are crying out for help in the Central Queensland region. It will help all those owners of hospitality venues, coffee shops, hotels and everything else in Rockhampton.
It will certainly help the local art gallery up there as well, which is a fabulous building that I also visited while I was there last week. But coming back to our position on the bill, this follows on from the good work of the coalition and, on that basis, the coalition will be supporting this bill. Debate adjourned.