Jamie Briggs (Mayo, Liberal Party, Chairman of the Scrutiny of Government Waste Committee) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australia is often described as a sporting nation. For a country of 23 million people, we match it with some of the largest countries in the world and in many cases beat them. We are a proud sporting nation. It was therefore a massive shock to the nation when the heads of the five major sporting codes and two ministers stepped out on 7 February this year to release the Crime Commission's report entitled Organised crime and drugs in sport.

At that press conference we were told by the Minister for Home Affairs that 'the use of prohibited substances including peptides, hormones and illicit drugs, is widespread amongst professional athletes'. We were also told that 'organised crime is involved in the distribution of these drugs', which 'exposes players to the risk of being co-opted for match fixing' and that investigations had found at least 'one possible example of' match fixing. The home affairs minister went on to say:

The findings are shocking and they'll disgust Australian sports fans.

…   …   …

… we're talking about multiple athletes across a number of codes, we're talking about a number of teams.

He went on to say:

It's cheating, but it's worse than that, it's cheating with the help of criminals.

Not surprisingly, the next day's headlines across the country included: 'Blackest day in Australian Sport'—TheAge; and 'Dirty rotten cheats'—the Herald Sun. If the government's aim was to create a media circus, they had achieved it.

Of course, if there are allegations of criminality or criminal activity in sport then they must be dealt with forcefully. Anyone found to have done the wrong thing should be dealt with by the law. The coalition, however, has long been concerned that the Gillard government saw the Crime Commission report as an opportunity to divert attention away from their political troubles and leadership tensions at the time. Let us remember what was going on at that time. Just a week earlier, two cabinet ministers had decided to resign and, of course, we all knew that the member for Griffith and his allies were circling the Prime Minister. The report was an opportunity to give the Prime Minister some clear air. So the decision was made—presumably by the guru 457 visa holding communications adviser in the Prime Minister's office—to summon all sporting code heads to Canberra and to release the report. The press conference was, for lack of a better word, a farce. Two of the five sports chiefs who attended the conference had been in their jobs for less than a week.

We have now learned through an FOI request that the AFL had not even seen the final ACC report the night before the press conference. In an email to the Minister for Sport's office dated Wednesday, 6 February 2013 at 8.13 pm an ALP official said: 'Are we any closer to seeing a final version of the report and possibly a draft media statement tonight?' This strips bare the chaos and dysfunction of the Gillard government. It is clear that the press conference was arranged in haste—the FOI shows that. It is also clear that the press conference was designed to create a sense of crisis. Why else would they summon the heads of Australia's major sporting codes to a Canberra press conference and have ministers use rhetoric like, 'It's cheating, but it's worse than that, it's cheating with the help of criminals'? Sports minister, Kate Lundy, did her best to weigh in, proclaiming, 'We are well on the way to seeking out and hunting those who will dope and cheat.'

Today we have heard, and read in a report in The Sydney Morning Herald written by Jonathon Swan, that cabinet ministers have criticised the Minister for Home Affairs for using 'overblown rhetoric'. But it also appears that this overblown rhetoric and timing of the report's release have put investigations at risk. We understand that senior police, including one Crime Commission board member, hold serious concerns about the timing of the press conference and the nature of the release. We understand the government's announcement has been described by high-ranking police officers as 'circus-like', 'crazy' and 'with the potential to impact adversely on the broader investigation'.

There is now little doubt that the government put its own interests ahead of Australian sportspeople and their fans, but in doing so, have also put the broader investigation at risk. The Gillard government has damaged Australia's proud sporting reputation, left our athletes guilty by association and potentially put ongoing criminal investigations at risk. This was described as the 'blackest day in Australian sport'. It should now be described as another black day for the Gillard government. I call on the Minister for Home Affairs and the Minister for Sport to apologise to the many thousands of innocent sportspeople they have unfairly smeared and apologise for putting an ongoing investigation at risk simply because their government needed political cover for a drowning Prime Minister. (Time expired)