The incorporated speech read as follows

I speak in support of the Sport Legislation Amendment (World Anti-Doping Code Implementation) Bill 2026. Australians have a very special relationship with sport. It is part of who we are. It brings communities together, creates lifelong friendships, teaches our children resilience and teamwork, and gives Australians moments of shared pride. That is certainly true in my electorate of Pearce.

Across our rapidly growing northern suburbs, sport is woven into the fabric of our community. On any given weekend, thousands of local families are travelling to football grounds, cricket pitches, netball courts, swimming pools and recreation centres. Parents are getting children out the door early in the morning. Coaches are setting up equipment. Volunteers are running canteens, organising teams and doing the work that keeps community sport alive. And among those young people pulling on their club colours in Pearce today may well be the Olympians, Paralympians and international representatives of tomorrow. That pathway—from junior sport, to local competition, to state and national representation and perhaps, ultimately, to the world stage—is something Australia should continue to nurture and protect. That protection includes ensuring that, wherever an Australian athlete competes, they can have confidence that the competition is fair. It means knowing that the person standing beside them at the starting line, across the net or on the other side of the field is subject to the same rules. It means knowing that performance is determined by talent, preparation, discipline and hard work, not by prohibited substances or attempts to circumvent the rules.

That is why this legislation matters. Sporting integrity is fundamental to sport. Without integrity, records lose their meaning. Without integrity, medals lose their value. Most importantly, clean athletes can spend years training and sacrificing only to be denied an opportunity by someone who has chosen to cheat. Australians rightly expect better than that.

Australia has a proud history when it comes to protecting clean sport. We established the Australian Sports Drug Agency in 1990, nearly a decade before the World Anti-Doping Agency was formed. Since then, Australia has continued to play an important role internationally in the development of antidoping policy and in building systems designed to protect athletes and maintain confidence in sporting competition. Today, Sport Integrity Australia carries much of that responsibility nationally.

Modern sporting integrity involves far more than testing athletes. It involves education, intelligence, investigations, therapeutic use exemptions, safeguarding and responding to emerging threats. And those threats continue to evolve. We have seen internationally how sophisticated doping programs can become. They can extend beyond the actions of an individual athlete and involve coaches, support personnel, administrators and, in the most serious cases, attempts to manipulate testing and undermine the institutions designed to guarantee fair competition. That is why strong and independent institutions are so important.

It is also why our antidoping framework cannot remain static. The methods used to detect doping change. Medical science changes. Technology changes. The substances available change. Our laws and regulatory systems therefore need to evolve with them. That is the purpose of the revised World Anti-Doping Code, which will take effect from 1 January 2027. The code establishes a common international framework so athletes competing across different countries and different sports operate under consistent antidoping rules. Australia has been closely involved in developing the revised code, with Sport Integrity Australia consulting athletes, sporting organisations, the Australian Sports Commission, the National Sports Tribunal, medical experts and other stakeholders. This legislation forms an important part of ensuring Australia is ready when the new code commences.

There are four significant areas addressed by this bill. The first concerns therapeutic use exemptions and, importantly, an athlete's right to seek an independent review of a decision. Antidoping systems must be rigorous enough to identify and punish deliberate doping. But they must also recognise that athletes get sick, suffer injuries and may require legitimate medication or treatment involving a substance that would ordinarily be prohibited. That is why therapeutic use exemptions exist. Under these reforms, an athlete refused a therapeutic use exemption by the Australian Sports Drug Medical Advisory Committee will be able to seek independent review through the National Sports Tribunal. That provides an independent national pathway and is an important improvement. A strong antidoping regime should never mean abandoning procedural fairness. Athletes must be held accountable when they break the rules, but they must also be able to trust the institutions administering those rules.

The second significant reform strengthens the operational independence of Australia's antidoping arrangements. Responsibility for imposing certain antidoping consequences will move away from individual sporting organisations and instead sit with Sport Integrity Australia. That is an important principle. Sporting organisations have an understandable interest in their athletes and competitions. They develop their sport, promote it, attract participants and sponsors, and support their representatives. There can therefore be circumstances where asking a sporting organisation to make decisions about sanctions involving its own athletes creates a real or perceived conflict of interest. The new arrangements provide clearer separation. Under the new arrangements, the Sport Integrity Australia CEO will take responsibility for imposing provisional suspensions and sanctions under Australia's national antidoping framework, rather than leaving those decisions to individual sporting organisations. That provides consistency, independence and greater public confidence. For communities like Pearce, where children and young adults are progressing through increasingly competitive sporting pathways, confidence in those systems matters. Young athletes should grow up understanding that the rules apply consistently, whether they are competing at a suburban sporting ground or representing Australia internationally.

The third area addressed by this legislation concerns the publication of information about antidoping violations. Transparency is an important component of sporting integrity. Where an antidoping violation has occurred, there can be a legitimate public interest in knowing what happened and what consequence followed. But transparency must also be balanced against privacy, fairness and the circumstances of the individual. That is particularly important where children, protected persons or recreational athletes are concerned. The revised arrangements provide greater scope to consider whether publication is appropriate and better recognise situations in which a person has not been found to have committed an offence or was not at fault. This is a sensible balance. We should be tough on deliberate doping, but our laws should also recognise proportionality. A child, vulnerable participant or recreational athlete should not automatically be treated in exactly the same manner as an elite athlete who knowingly participates in a sophisticated doping program.

The fourth reform updates the definition of an athlete under the Sport Integrity Australia Act. The existing arrangements can continue to classify somebody as an athlete for six months after they last competed. This bill removes that automatic domestic rule and brings Australia's definition into closer alignment with the international antidoping framework. It may appear to be a technical amendment, but consistency matters in a global system. Athletes compete internationally, sporting bodies work across jurisdictions and antidoping organisations operate within common international standards.

These reforms are also taking place at an extraordinary time for Australian sport. Our athletes continue to deliver remarkable performances internationally, and the next decade will place Australia at the centre of world sport. We are moving towards the Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2028 and, of course, the Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2032. Those events will inspire another generation of young Australians. I think about what that opportunity means in Pearce. We are one of the largest and fastest-growing parts of Western Australia, with young families establishing their lives across communities including Alkimos, Butler, Yanchep, Eglinton and Wanneroo. We need the infrastructure to give those families opportunities to participate in sport.

That is why projects such as the new Alkimos Aquatic and Recreation Centre are so important. The Australian government has committed significant funding of $30 million towards the facility because our northern suburbs deserve high-quality aquatic and recreation infrastructure closer to home. The centre will create opportunities for swimming, fitness, indoor sport and recreation, and will support local schools, sporting clubs and families. Across Pearce, facilities such as Halesworth Park demonstrate what quality community sporting infrastructure can mean for growing communities. These projects might seem removed from international antidoping legislation, but they are all part of the same sporting ecosystem. The child learning to swim in a community pool may become an elite swimmer. The young cricketer training after school may progress through representative cricket. The girl joining a local football or netball team may one day pull on Australian colours. Every one of those young athletes should grow up in a sporting culture that tells them clearly that success comes from preparation, hard work, perseverance and talent. There are no acceptable shortcuts. That culture begins at grassroots level and must extend all the way to our national sporting institutions.

The Albanese Labor government is therefore investing across the sporting pathway. We are supporting community participation. We are investing in women's and girls' sport. We are supporting high-performance athletes. And we are strengthening the integrity architecture that sits behind it all. In the 2026-27 budget, the government committed a further $20.1 million to Sport Integrity Australia to continue safeguarding the integrity of Australian sport. That investment and this legislation send the same message: Australian sporting success must be clean sporting success. The great moments in Australian sport matter precisely because we believe in them.

When an Australian touches the wall first, crosses the finish line or stands on a podium with a medal around their neck, Australians should be able to celebrate without wondering whether the competition was legitimate. The athlete standing second or fourth should also know that they were given a genuine opportunity to compete fairly. The consequences of doping do not fall only upon the athlete who breaks the rules; they fall upon the clean competitor who misses a final, the person who finishes fourth and misses a medal, the athlete who misses selection, the family that has supported years of training and the supporters who put their faith in the integrity of the competition. Once an opportunity has been taken from an athlete, awarding a medal years later cannot fully restore what was lost. That is why prevention, detection, independence and strong governance are so important.

As we look towards Brisbane 2032, Australia has an opportunity not simply to host an outstanding Olympic and Paralympic Games but to demonstrate what we believe sport should represent—competition, excellence, respect, integrity and, above all, a fair go. Those values are just as visible on a Saturday morning sporting field in Pearce as they are in an Olympic stadium. We owe it to the volunteers running our local clubs, to the parents supporting their children, to our emerging athletes and to those already representing our country to protect those values.

The Sport Legislation Amendment (World Anti-Doping Code Implementation) Bill 2026 strengthens that protection. It provides athletes with stronger review rights. It strengthens independent decision-making. It provides a more balanced approach to publication and privacy. It ensures Australia's legislation remains aligned with the international antidoping system that underpins fair competition around the world. Australia has long been a leader in protecting the integrity of sport. This bill ensures that we remain one. For the sporting clubs and families of Pearce, for Australian athletes competing today and for the young Australians dreaming of representing their country tomorrow, we should continue to insist upon a simple principle: if you compete, you compete fairly. Our athletes deserve nothing less. Our sporting community expects nothing less. I commend the bill to the House.

The Sport Legislation Amendment (World Anti-Doping Code Implementation) Bill 2026 is important legislation because sport is at the heart of all our communities. We all look up to our national athletes, whether it was the Socceroos that did so well at the World Cup or the Matildas that have represented us with such pride. I know, growing up, Cathy Freeman winning gold at the 2000 Olympics was a key memory. I remember cheering her on as she won that medal. Those national conversations are important. Our club sports, like AFL, are part of WADA, so I have to take the opportunity to talk about the 2023 Collingwood premiership. That was an important memory for me that I enjoyed. The AFL do make sure that they follow the WADA code, because we need to know that when we play sport the athletes are clean and everyone that does the work has an equal chance for success.

The reason we need to make sure that the sports are clean is that what happens at a national level, at an AFL level or at an NRL level, flows down to our young people and to our communities. Community sport has been a huge part of my journey to this place—I spoke about the Healesville Cricket Club and the Mooroolbark Soccer Club in my first speech—and it is a huge part of so many communities in the seat of Casey. Sporting clubs are not just about winning and losing, and it's not just about the facilities; it's about the people that are involved in making those clubs tick. That's why I played. That's why so many people play—because of the people you meet, the friendships you make and the bonds that last a lifetime, knowing that, if you're in trouble, they'll come and help you, and, if they're in trouble, you will help them.

I want to take this moment, as we talk about sport, to pay tribute to Paul 'Dorz' Dorian, a great friend of mine who we tragically lost two weeks ago to cancer, at 47. Dorz and I played together at the Mount Lilydale Old Collegians. We then transferred to the new Lilydale Montrose United Football Club. Dorz also was the president of the club and coached many teams, including my daughter's team. He was the founder and the driving force behind the St Marys soccer team, which was a futsal team playing indoor soccer in Mount Evelyn. He put in time and effort so that many young people could learn the beautiful game of soccer and futsal. He made sure that they got to experience the joy of winning, that they understood the pain of defeat, but that defeat was just a lesson to grow.

Paul had a personality that, as someone said at his celebration last Friday, made you feel seen. When you were with Paul Dorian it felt like you were the most important person in the world. The reason that Paul was able to make you feel like the most important person in the world is that, in that moment when he spoke to you, you were the most important person in the world. He was present. He was engaged. He had a smile and a personality that lit up the room. He gave so much back to the sporting community, whether it was his time playing at the Mooroolbark Soccer Club, his time at the Lilydale Montrose United Football Club or his time at the Mount Lilydale Old Collegians. He was the best of the best. He represents everything that I love about community sport. There are so many Paul Dorians throughout the country, and that's why we love sport.

We had a celebration last Friday. There were over two hours of stories about Paul, many that left my 11-year-old daughter with some questions about what they meant—luckily they went over her head—and many that are not parliamentary, but it was a tribute to a great man. The hall was overflowing with soccer jerseys and colour to celebrate Paul. His wife, Ilona, spoke so well about the love of her life—the man she met in high school, the man that had had such a profound impact on her life, and how much he meant to her. His children Josh and Emily spoke so well about their dad. His son Sam, who's the same age as my daughter, 11, and goes to school with her, didn't speak, but he represented the family, with courage, so well. Josh performed some musical tributes, because Paul was one of those annoying people who was really good at a lot of things. He was a gun at soccer and then, when he picked up a guitar, he was a natural at that. Josh, his son, definitely got the musical gene from his family. They represented their family so well, but we know that grief and pain do not just disappear. While the celebration was on Friday, we gathered on Sunday for the inaugural Dorz Memorial Cup. The Lilydale Montrose United community rallied at the Keith Hume Fraser Reserve as 20 or 30 teams, hundreds of people, played soccer to pay tribute to Paul Dorian. The weather was beautiful, which was all we could have asked for.

I want to finish by saying to Ilona and the family: we love you, we're with you, we've been with you through this journey of over five years and we will continue to be with you to support you, as we know there are unfortunately tough times ahead. I want to put on the record, on the Hansard, the greatness that was and is Paul 'Dorz' Dorian. May he rest in peace.

Community sport is so important. It is about people. People make a difference to all community sports, but infrastructure makes a difference as well. Having really modern, fresh infrastructure is important for our communities. We have seen—and my daughter is a perfect example of this—an explosion of young women, girls and older women in veterans teams playing sport and getting the opportunity to make sure that they can compete and learn all the valuable lessons from sport. That's why we have seen this growth in numbers, but we haven't seen infrastructure keep up.

I was proud as the candidate in 2022 and as the member of parliament in 2025 to make commitments to upgrade the Mooroolbark Heights Reserve and make sure they get the facilities that they need and they deserve. While I was lucky enough to win my seat, unfortunately we weren't able to form government, so we could not deliver on those facilities. But a Jess Wilson led Victorian government working with David Hodgett, the current member, and Toby Wooldridge—the Liberal candidate for Croydon—understand and know how important those facilities are.

That's why I was really excited and proud that they announced $6.5 million to upgrade the reserve to make sure that the Mooroolbark Football Club, the Mooroolbark Junior Football Club and the Mooroolbark Cricket Club could get the funding that they need to upgrade those facilities. Well done to Jess Wilson and the team. There are only a few more weeks to go until the 28 November election. We will be watching with interest, and hopefully the Mooroolbark community can get those facilities that they deserve. People and infrastructure matter when it comes to local sport.

How we legislate that so people have confidence in our athletes matters as well. This legislation is important because every six years we update the WADA code. We make sure that it is fit for purpose and that our athletes competing at the cutting edge and those wanting to become cutting edge adhere to standards across Australia and across the country. This legislation will update that to make sure that the WADA code is implemented in Australia. It is supported by the coalition because it is an important piece of legislation. Australia is a great sporting nation, and we need to ensure that we continue to keep integrity in sport so those young people, when they watch their athletes, don't have to be disappointed in the future to find out that they weren't competing at their best.

Sport has been a huge part of my life. It's a huge part of the Casey community. It's a huge part of the Australian story. I'm glad that I can be here to support this legislation and make sure that we keep integrity in sport in Australia and also across the globe.

In my electorate of Bonner, sport is such a huge part of the social fabric of our community. Every weekend, across the electorate, thousands of families, players, coaches and volunteers come together through grassroots sport. From the Wynnum Manly Seagulls to the Mt Gravatt Vultures, our community has a proud and diverse sporting culture. We have sailing on Moreton Bay, swimming at Chandler, netball, tennis, hockey, cricket, cycling, gymnastics and countless other sports being played by people of all ages and all abilities together. These clubs are so much more than places just to compete. They are where children build confidence, where friendships are formed, where volunteers dedicate countless hours and where Australians learn the importance of teamwork, discipline and respect. As a mum with kids involved in indoor soccer as well as netball and swimming, I know firsthand how much these experiences matter. I know sometimes for parents there are early mornings, weekend competitions and training. We see extraordinary commitment from parents and carers after school, before school and, of course, on weekends. These are also the people who are keeping our local clubs running through countless hours of volunteering and coaching.

I also know how much children learn from being part of a team, but perhaps one of the most important lessons they learn is that everyone deserves a fair go, that the rules matter and that success should come from hard work, talent and determination, not from someone gaining an unfair advantage. Those principles are just as important on a suburban sporting field in Bonner as they are on the world's biggest stage. With the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games now just six years away, that connection between grassroots sport and international sporting excellence has never felt closer to home. For some of the young athletes currently training in our local clubs, the journey that begins on a sporting field in Bonner may one day lead to representing Australia at the Olympics or Paralympics. When that moment comes, they deserve to know that their hard work, sacrifices and achievements will be protected, that the competition will be fair, that the rules will be applied equally and that the systems governing their sports are independent, transparent and accountable.

That is exactly what the Sport Legislation Amendment (World Anti-Doping Code Implementation) Bill 2026 is all about—protecting the integrity of Australian sport, strengthening the rights of athletes and ensuring that Australia continues to meet the highest international anti-doping standards. Australia has a proud history of leadership when it comes to clean, fair and safe sport. In fact, our commitment to tackling doping began long before the international frameworks recognised today were established. In 1990, Australia established the Australian Sports Drug Agency to combat and control the use of prohibited substances in Australian sport. We became a signatory to the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport in 2005, and Australia has maintained compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code since it commenced in 2004.

Today, Australia continues to contribute directly to international anti-doping governance, including through representation on the World Anti-Doping Agency Executive Committee. Nationally, Sport Integrity Australia delivers a comprehensive anti-doping program, and its work extends well beyond drug testing. It includes education, prevention, intelligence gathering, investigations and the management of potential anti-doping rule violations. Protecting the integrity of sport requires more than identifying wrongdoing after it occurs. It requires a system that actively prevents misconduct, supports athletes to understand their obligations and ensures that, when breaches do occur, they are dealt with fairly and consistently.

We know from international experience just how damaging doping can be. Investigations into Russian sport exposed systemic doping practices, the manipulation of samples and interference with anti-doping practices. These were not simply isolated incidents involving individual athletes. They demonstrated how organised misconduct can undermine entire sporting systems and erode public confidence in international competition. Similarly, the investigation known as Operación Puerto exposed sophisticated doping networks involving medical and support personnel operating across sporting disciplines and national borders.

These examples remind us that doping is not always an individual issue. It can involve complex networks, institutional failures and deliberate attempts to undermine fair competition. When that happens, the greatest victims are often the athletes who have done everything right. Imagine training for years to represent your country and then imagine discovering that you missed out on a final medal or a place on the podium because someone else cheated. That is an injustice that cannot always be repaired. A medal might be reassigned years later, but the moment is gone. That is why strong antidoping laws are not just about catching those who break the rules; they're also about protecting those who follow them.

The World Anti-Doping Code provides a globally harmonised framework, ensuring athletes and sporting organisations are subject to consistent antidoping principles wherever they compete. We cannot have one set of standards applying in Australia and an entirely different standard applying when athletes compete overseas. As sport evolves, the rules must evolve with it. Doping methods change, technology and detection capabilities advance, medical practices develop, and our understanding of athletes' rights, privacy and procedural fairness continues to improve. Following an extensive two-year international consultation process, a revised World Anti-Doping Code was approved in December 2025. The revised code will commence on 1 January 2027. Australia participated throughout that review process and consulted with domestic stakeholders, including athletes, national sporting organisations, disability sporting organisations, medical experts and antidoping authorities. The revised code strengthens the independence of antidoping organisations, improves athletes' appeal rights and introduces more appropriate protections around the public discourse of antidoping violations.

The bill before the House makes targeted amendments to the Sport Integrity Australia Act 2020 and the National Sports Tribunal Act 2019 to give effect to these important reforms, and I want to focus on four changes. First, we are strengthening athletes' rights. Under Australia's antidoping framework, there are circumstances where an athlete may have a legitimate medical need to use a substance or treatment that would otherwise be prohibited. These circumstances are managed through what is known as therapeutic-use exemptions. Currently, an athlete whose application is refused may seek review through a panel within the Australian Sports Drugs Medical Advisory Committee's statutory structure. Under this legislation, eligible refusals will instead be reviewed by a national sports tribunal. This is a really important change. It separates the original decision-maker from the body responsible for reviewing that decision. It gives athletes access to an independent specialist appeal pathway, and it strengthens confidence that decisions affecting their health and sporting careers will be made fairly.

Second, we are strengthening the independence of antidoping decisions. Currently, sporting organisations are responsible for imposing certain suspensions and consequences following antidoping processes. This legislation transfers responsibility for imposing relevant provisional suspensions and agreed consequences to Sport Integrity Australia. Sporting organisations will remain responsible for implementing those decisions within their sport. That distinction matters because sporting organisations can face competing pressures. They want their athletes to succeed. They want their teams to perform. They want their competitions to attract audiences, sponsors and support. But decisions about potential doping violations must be independent of those interests. The integrity of the system cannot depend on whether an athlete is famous, whether a team is successful or whether a decision might be commercially inconvenient. The rules must apply equally, whether someone is a household name or an athlete competing internationally for the very first time.

Third, we are strengthening privacy provisions. Antidoping allegations can have serious consequences for a person's reputation, livelihood and of course their mental health. While transparency is essential, it must be balanced with appropriate safeguards. This bill introduces stronger protections around the publication of antidoping violations. It requires particular consideration of the circumstances of minors, recreational athletes and people who may lack the capacity to understand the rules. It also strengthens protections where a person is found to have committed a violation with no fault or negligence. These safeguards matter because a fairer system must do more than identify wrongdoing; it must recognise individual circumstances, provide adequate avenues for review and avoid unnecessary harm.

Finally, we are modernising Australia's antidoping laws by updating our legislation to align with international definitions and technical standards. We are ensuring Australia remains consistent with the rules governing sport right around the world. These reforms are about something much bigger than compliance. They're about ensuring every Australian athlete can compete with confidence, knowing the rules are fair, their rights are protected and their achievements are recognised.

In Bonner we are incredibly proud of the sporting talent that has emerged from our community—athletes like swimmer Amelia Weber, steeplechaser Cara, Paralympian Hani Watson, and artistic gymnasts Georgia Godwin and James Hardy. I do want to give a special shout-out to James. I've previously acknowledged in this place Amelia, Cara and Georgia. James is an artistic gymnast who competed in Glasgow recently, and he is from Burbank in my electorate of Bonner. He is a proud Mansfield State High School graduate who came home with not one, not two, but three bronze medals—rings, floor and the team event. He also finished fifth on the vault. I want to say a big congratulations to James; we are so very proud of you. Of course, we are proud of all of our remarkable athletes, whose achievements and determination are an inspiration to young people right across our electorates and right across our country.

But, before an athlete stands on an Olympic or Paralympic podium, they must compete at a world championship, and, before they represent Australia, their journey begins at a local sporting club, and it begins with our volunteers, a supportive family and a community willing to invest in their potential. That is why the values that we protect at the highest levels of international sport matter just as much as at a grassroots level. Fairness, integrity and respect should be fundamental to every sporting experience. When we strengthen the systems and processes that protect clean sport, we are also reinforcing those values for the next generation.

For Queenslanders, particularly those of us in South-East Queensland, the countdown to the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games is incredibly exciting. In just six years, Australia will again welcome the world's greatest athletes to compete on our shores, and Bonner won't just be watching the games; we're helping host them. The Albanese Labor government has committed approximately $3.4 billion towards games infrastructure, including upgrades to major sporting facilities in my electorate. At the Sleeman Sports Complex in Chandler, upgrades will improve accessibility and integration right across the precinct. The Brisbane Aquatic Centre will be refurbished ahead of hosting preliminary water polo matches. The Anna Meares Velodrome and the Chandler BMX track will receive upgrades for Olympic cycling events. The Brisbane International Shooting Centre at Belmont will also be improved to host shooting events, with temporary seating planned for up to 2,000 spectators. Importantly, the planned Chandler para-sport facility will create more opportunities for people with disability to participate in sport, while supporting pathways for future Paralympians.

These investments are not just about delivering a successful Olympic and Paralympic Games. They are about leaving a lasting legacy for families, sporting clubs and athletes right across Bonner. For me, that is exactly what a successful Olympic legacy looks like, and I commend this legislation to the chamber.

I rise to speak on the Sport Legislation Amendment (World Anti-Doping Code Implementation) Bill 2026. Some moments get etched into a nation's memory, and, for so many Australians, one of them happened on a warm Sydney night in 2000 when Cathy Freeman stepped onto the track of the stadium at Olympic Park. There were thousands of people in that stadium and what felt like the entire country holding its breath at home. I think many in this chamber can probably remember where they were standing that night, who they were squashed on the couch with and the sound that rose when she crossed the line. That was the Sydney Olympics, and they were the games that I think made us feel, all at once, that we could welcome the world and do it with a grin. What I remember most is not only the gold but also the trust. We watched believing that what we were seeing was fair and that the person who won that night was the person who earnt it. That is what this bill is about.

In the electorate of Barton, sport not only happens on television; it happens on Saturday mornings. It is in the whistle blown at Arncliffe Park and in the chilly sideline coffee. It is in the netballers of the St George District Netball Association, putting on their bibs in Rockdale. It's in the b-ball players from St George basketball team, warming up at the stadium at Hurstville Aquatic Leisure Centre. It is in the St George Illawarra Dragons, whose heartland runs right through Kogarah and every kid in a Dragons jersey who is sure they will be the next one to run out at Jubilee Stadium. It is in the soccer families of Rockdale Ilinden who give up their weekends to the game and training. It is in the community who shows up at Hurstville Oval to support the St George District Cricket Club regardless of the weather. That is what we do in Barton and, I think, across the country. I also want to give a quick shout-out to Football St George, to its committee members and to the teams that have made the grand final in the Champion of Champions competition, which include the Banksia Tigers under-15s, the Minotaurs under-13s, the Ilinden under-16s, the Dolls Point over-35s, the Minotaurs under-45s and Arncliffe Aurora.

When you walk those fields and courts, you will meet modern Australia right there. You'll hear Greeks. You'll hear Macedonians. You'll hear Cantonese, Mandarin, Nepali and even Arabic, all shouted with equal passion from the sidelines. You'll see parents who finished a night shift and came straight to the game. You'll see grandparents as well. They may never have quite understood the offside rule, but they are cheering anyway. And, somewhere on those sidelines, I guarantee you there'll be a kid from Kingsgrove or Bexley or Carlton who's really quietly doing the maths on a dream. Maybe it's Los Angeles 2028. Maybe it's Brisbane 2032. That kid is not asking for special treatment; they are asking for one thing: a fair go. They want to know that the contest is clean, the rules are the same for everyone and the system protecting them is independent and trustworthy.

Before I came into this place, I spent about a decade working as an employment and industrial relations lawyer, standing up in the Fair Work Commission and also the Federal Circuit Court, representing workers and representing businesses as well. What I learnt is that people can accept almost any outcome if they believe the process was fair. They cannot accept a process where the person who makes the decisions is also a person with a stake in the results of those decision. Hold onto that thought and let it sit with you, but that is at the core of this bill.

Australia has long been proud to be a leader in clean sport. We established the Australian Sports Drug Agency in 1990, before the World Anti-Doping Agency existed and before the World Anti-Doping Code was actually written. We became a signatory to the UNESCO antidoping convention in 2005, and we have been compliant with the code since it began on 1 January 2004. Today we have a seat at the table, with Australia serving as the Oceania representative on the WADA Executive Committee, and Sport Integrity Australia delivers a national program that covers education, testing, intelligence and investigations.

This matters because cheating does not care about borders. International investigations into Russian sports found institutional involvement in doping, including the manipulation of samples and interference with the antidoping process. It has been demonstrated to us that sophisticated doping networks can involve medical and sport personnel operating across different sports and different countries. The athletes who pay the price are the clean ones—the ones who trained harder, went to sleep earlier and said no. No one country and no one sport can deal with that alone. That is why the code is reviewed and strengthened every six years—2009, 2015 and 2021—and why a revised code will commence on 1 January 2027. It was developed through a two-year global review in which governments, athletes, anti-doping organisations and sporting bodies all had their say. Australia was at the table at every stage and we consulted athletes, the National Sports Tribunal, the Australian Sports Drug Medical Advisory Committee, the Australian Sports Commission and our national sporting organisations along the way.

This bill is how Australia gets ready. It makes targeted changes to the Sport Integrity Australia Act 2020 and the National Sports Tribunal Act 2019. I want to take the House through four of them. Firstly, the bill strengthens athletes' appeal rights on therapeutic-use exemptions. Sometimes an athlete has a legitimate medical need for a substance that would otherwise be prohibited. Think of an athlete managing a serious illness who is entitled to treatment like anyone else. In Australia, the Australian Sports Drug Medical Advisory Committee decides on those applications. Right now, if an application is refused, the review happens within the committee's own statutory structure. This bill sends eligible refusals to the National Sports Tribunal instead. The committee keeps making the original decision, but an independent specialist body reviews it. As a lawyer, that makes me nod. The original decision-maker should never be the final word on its own decisions.

Secondly, the bill reinforces the independence of the system itself. At the moment, Sport Integrity Australia investigates and asserts a potential violation, but it is the sporting organisations that imposes the provisional suspension and the consequences. The 2027 code says that an anti-doping organisation must not hand parts of that process to a national sporting body. So this bill moves responsibility for imposing provisional suspensions and agreed consequences to Sports Integrity Australia, while sporting organisations remain responsible for putting those decisions into effect within their sport. It removes a potential conflict of interest and it protects the athlete, the sport and the public's confidence in the outcome.

Thirdly, the bill gets the balance right on publication. Sport Integrity Australia keeps a public violation list, and transparency matters. But we are also talking about real people and sometimes very young ones. The bill introduces stronger privacy protections where a person establishes no fault or negligence. For minors, for people who lack the capacity to understand the rules and for recreational athletes, the CEO must weigh the person's best interests alongside the public interest before deciding whether to publish it. A young person should not really carry a reputational cost for life because of a decision made in a moment of confusion or maybe even poor judgement or advice. That is proportionate and it is fair.

Fourthly, the bill modernises the definition of an athlete. It removes a domestic provision that treated a person as an athlete for six months after they last competed, a rule that is not part of the international definition and not required by the code. It also recognises WADA's technical letters, as well as technical documents, within the definition of international standards. These are sensible changes that keep our laws in step with the world's.

The detailed rules will follow through amendments to the Sport Integrity Australia regulations, including the national anti-doping scheme, and through the 2027 Australian national anti-doping policy adopted by the national sporting organisations. Together, these instruments make up the full Australian framework we need in place by 1 January 2027.

Compliance with the 2027 code is required for Australia to actually take part in world championships and other international federation competitions run under code-compliant rules. It's required for Australia to host major sporting events, such as the 2027 Australian Open, the Santos Tour Down Under and the Big Bash League. If we miss these deadlines, we'll put at risk the events that fill our stadiums, our hotels and our local economies.

The government is backing this with real investment. The 2026-27 budget provides $20.1 million to continue Sport Integrity Australia's role as our national anti-doping organisation and the coordinating agency for integrity in Australian sport. There is a further $8.5 million to keep the Australian Sport Drug Testing Laboratory operating as a primary WADA accredited facility. That builds on that $36.3 million announced in January 2024 to tackle abuse, bullying, racism, discrimination and sexual misconduct in sport. And there is a further $37 million in operating funding over the two years from 1 July 2024. Integrity in sport means more than catching cheats; it means making sure every child who walks onto a field is safe and very much respected.

We are backing our athletes. The 2026-27 budget delivers a record $406 million investment in sport, including $307.4 million over two years for high performance. That includes $207.8 million—and this is important—in grants and national sporting organisations, $58 million to lift Paralympic sport and address the barriers its athletes face, $18.6 million for direct athlete support and $23 million for the Women Leaders in Sport program and the delivery of grants. This is how we prepare for Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032.

I was about 12 or 13 years old when we had the Sydney Olympics. Reflecting on that, we'll have the Olympics in Brisbane in 2032. It feels like a bookend. In the first, a generation of Australians learnt what it felt like to believe in something together. In the second, in 2032, a new generation will get its turn. Between them, I believe it's our job to protect the thing that made the first one so special—the belief that the contest was real and the win was earnt. Here's my hope: some night in 2032, a kid who grew up kicking a ball in Arncliffe Park or shooting hoops with St George Basketball in Hurstville will step onto the biggest stage in the world. Somewhere in Barton, a whole street will be crammed together around a television, shouting at a screen, and everyone in that room, from the kids to the grandparents, will know in their hearts that that particular game was fair. That is what this bill is about.

I rise to speak on the Sport Legislation Amendment (World Anti-Doping Code Implementation) Bill 2026. I know WADA intimately. The locker room is a sacrosanct place for professional athletes. It is where we unwind after the game. It's where we talk about the things that happened. It's where we have it out with each other because something went wrong. It's where we celebrate our wins. You walk in after the game, and there's somebody in there who doesn't belong. They've got a black polo on and their lanyard—it's WADA. They take you to the room and they hand you the cup, and they spend a bit of time with you until you fill said cup. If you cannot fill said cup, as happened to a few of my teammates over the years, you've picked up a friend for the evening; they will follow you until the absolute bitter end. Unsurprisingly, they're not always popular. If you get to a level beyond mine and become an Olympian, they can show up at your house. I had a mate who was taking the dog for a walk, and WADA showed up. They were like, 'This is what we're doing today.' They came with him for a walk with the dog and went to the pool with the kids until they got the cup.

It's inconvenient and it's kind of annoying, and we were not always as polite to them as we should have been, but they gave us the confidence that every game we played was fair. We didn't know when they were showing up. We weren't given any warning. The last time I got tested was in Ballarat, at a 'Taking it to the Streets' Cairns Taipans home game. There was no indication that they might be there; it was a nothing game in the middle of the season against Sydney that didn't matter. But there he was, ready to do his job. He put up with the attitude that he got from a whole bunch of spoilt brat athletes and the jokes that came along with it. He took his sample and he went away, and you wouldn't see or hear from him again unless you were in trouble.

WADA did more than testing; they gave us the parameters in which we had to exist. As an athlete, you have to be incredibly careful about what you put in your body.

You have to know where it came from and what it is. They drilled it home to us every single pre-season. They get the entire NBL together in a room, and they sit down and they go through it piece by piece by piece. 'Stay clear of pseudoephedrine,' 'Don't have too much caffeine,' 'If you are going to use supplements, make absolutely sure that they are clean,' Please don't smoke weed'—that went sideways for a few of my mates, but we knew. We knew the rules, we knew the parameters, and we knew the consequences. Most importantly, we knew the consequences.

Basketball is not a great sport for performance-enhancing drugs. It's a highly skilled sport. If I were 20 or 30 per cent stronger, it wouldn't have made a lick of difference to how good I was as a player. If I had been able to dribble better or shoot better, that might have helped. Maybe I'd have gone to the Olympics. But, for other sports, it can make a massive, massive difference. You can change the way your body moves or the amount of power that's available to you through a decent course of anabolic steroids. If you are playing a sport that requires you to slow your heart rate, be it shooting, golf or even lawn bowls, a decent set of beta blockers will fix that up for you. If you need to be quick off the blocks, pseudoephedrine is the way to go. All of these things give people an inherent advantage, and, when you're at that very top level, you're measuring things in millimetres and you're measuring things in fractions of a second, so any single advantage that you can get is worth something. The fact that these chemicals exist out there, for some, is a temptation that's too high, and you see not only people go down that path and what it does to their bodies and what it does to their reputations afterwards, but what it does to the athletes they're competing against.

Winning, getting a trophy, getting a ring or a medal or whatever is a fantastic thing, but it's the moment that matters. Crossing that finish line and having the crowd erupt matters. Making that shot matters. If you're competing against someone who is not competing clean, they can potentially take that moment from you, and that is the heartbreaking tragedy. They can give it back to you years down the track. They might disqualify things as doping testing catches up with the dopers, but you've lost the moment, and the moment is everything. I don't know where my championship rings are, but I remember the moments, and the moments are distilled into everything that you've worked for, and, for Olympians, you might only get one shot. Your peak athletic performance is measured in not a full decade—27 to maybe 32 at your absolute peak. If you're lucky, you can have two. If you're really lucky, like the member for Hunter—shooting debatable—you can have five.

Look, we discuss it every day. But, if you've worked your entire life for that one moment, you want to know that that moment is fair. You want to know that the work that you've put in is equal to the work that the person next to you put in, and, if it's not and they beat you because they've worked harder, because they've got some natural abilities or because it was just their day, you can live with that. You can live with whatever outcome you're given, provided you know that it's fair and provided that you've given it your best and provided you've given it your all. The great tragedy of doping and the people who put that into our sports and the mechanisms around it—it is an industry. Let's not mistake it. Doping athletes is an industry at this point in time. They're taking those things that matter so, so much. The sacrifices that you have to make to be that good are incredible.

Speak to Stephanie Rice. I think she is a good example. She spoke about how, in her entire lead-up to the Olympics, she allowed herself, once a week, one tiny little block of chocolate just so that she could maintain that level of discipline just so she could keep her the body fat percentage where it needed to be for optimum floating. All of these things are just hammered, hammered, hammered into you. That one little chocolate was her reward, and obviously so were the three gold medals, but she earned those. She earned those fair and square. She made the sacrifices. She didn't look for shortcuts. She didn't find a mad scientist, a chemist, who could do the things that she needed to do. She went out and she did the work and she paid the price, and the people around her paid the price. You sacrifice family time, your time and physical time. There is the emotional toll of working that hard all the time, the emotional toll of not being successful, what that does to you and what that does to your immediate loved ones who are on that journey with you. Even if they're not in the water, on the pitch or running beside you, they are. They want to believe that it's clean. They want to believe that it's fair, because they're the ones who are sitting right next to you, helping you through that entire process. I do want to say one thing, though. When my career was over and I got to try Sudafed for the first time when I had a cold—amazing! It made me feel so much better. I was like, 'This stuff is great.'

We'll get to the nitty-gritty of it all. This is an international framework. It has to be even right across the planet, particularly when we're dealing with international sports. There have been a few little strange things in there which have been Australian specific, and those are going to get ironed out to make sure that we are all on the same page. The code will be implemented in 2027 through an integrated package of primary legislation, regulation and sporting policy. The bill makes amendments to the Sporting Integrity Act 2020 and the National Sports Tribunal Act 2019. Detailed antidrug rules will be implemented through amendments to the SIA regulations, including the national antidoping scheme and through the 2027 ANADP adopted by the Australian Sports Commission, recognised by NSOs and NSODs. These instruments will provide the framework going forwards so that, when the Brisbane Olympics hit, everything will be in place.

Whenever there's a change, you've got to have those conversations, particularly with the athletes, with the bodies around it and obviously with the poor guys with the cups to make sure that everyone knows what's happening and how it's going to happen. This gives us a good run-in time. It'll let us understand the strengths and weaknesses of the system that we've put in and close up any holes that might arrive throughout it. We're strengthening the appeal rights for the therapeutic-use exemption, and this is important. I played with guys who had asthma, and they've had to fill out a whole bunch of forms for their asthma pumps. Cortisone shots are quite common throughout the year, and you need to know that people are taking these drugs to make sure that they can heal to deal with the pain. They might have a broader medical condition that requires medical intervention. People should not be punished for that. Strengthening these rules, allowing that therapeutic exemption and making it easier to actually implement is really important for athletes.

There was a case a few years back where an NFL player failed a drug test, and he failed a drug test because he was taking fertility drugs because he wanted to have a child. The exemptions at the time didn't allow for that. The NFL doesn't subscribe to WADA. It exists as its own thing. They were able to hear the appeal and allow him to continue playing, but he wasn't trying to get an advantage on the field. He wanted to be a dad, and that was an important part of him, but he shouldn't have had to give up his job for that or risk losing his job because of the drugs he had to take to become a father. That's an example of why the therapeutic exemption is going to be so important. As a member for Barton said, during this appeal process it is very important to separate the decision-maker from the review body. People don't like to be proven wrong, so it is always important to have that separation of powers. I think that's as important in WADA as it is in just about every single part of our society.

The second part is reinforcing the independence of the doping system. It needs to be a completely independent body. I think everyone knows now that sport is awash with money. The codes are becoming more and more powerful. In the United States, they split from WADA completely. The NCAA takes no part in WADA at all. Their testing is all over the place, and there are no real guidelines around it. Each school is doing their own thing. Each conference is doing their own thing. You can fail in one place and pass in another. It needs to be fair right across the board. The concept of fairness is such an integral part of sport and the Australian psyche. I think it is an important part that, when we have the Olympics in 2032, we display that fairness, that the fair go that we really pride ourselves on as part of our national identity is understood by the rest of the planet—that when you compete in Australia, you compete by the rules. If you win, you'll have won clean. If you lost, you'll have lost clean, but you'll have got there on your own merits, not the merits of a chemist in some far part of the world, not the merits of the beta-blocker that's slowing down your heart rate as you're lining up your shot, not the merits of the pseudoephedrine that gets you off the line that little bit quicker and not the merits of the steroids and peptides that you can use to give your body that extra five or 10 per cent.

Without these kinds of rules, you get the Enhanced Games, which is a joke and an insult to every single athlete who's ever played fair and is dangerous, with people encouraged to put things into their bodies that they have absolutely no idea about. It sets a terrible precedent and example to our children, who are increasingly looking up to sport. Our children need to know that we're clean. Our country needs to know that we're clean. Any athlete that feels like doping is the answer needs to know that Australia is clean and we will not stand for it.

I'm looking forward to the 2032 Olympics. I was in the United States during the 2000 Olympics, so I didn't get to go, and then I wasn't talented enough to go to any of the other ones. So I'm very excited about having an Olympics in my home state, just down the road from Cairns. I commend this bill to the House.

I rise today to speak in support of the Sport Legislation Amendment (World Anti-Doping Code Implementation) Bill 2026. I am a sports nut. I love netball, football, cricket, athletics and cycling. I absolutely love the Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games. To be faster, higher and stronger—I love that everyone can strive for this, not only the elite athletes we watch on television and in stadiums but everyone. With training and effort, everyone has the opportunity to be faster, to go higher and to get stronger. The thrill in achieving a PB, in swimming faster, in lifting heavier weights, in knowing that you did this off your own steam because of your own efforts and the training you put in is immensely satisfying.

I am a former competitive swimmer, and when I watch our Australian Dolphins race, make finals and win medals in domestic and international competitions I have some understanding of the effort, sacrifice and dedication that they put in to make the team, let alone make a semifinal, make a final or win a medal. This is the hours in the gym that sprinters put in, building muscle to power them to run 100 metres in the blink of an eye. It's the hours marathon runners put in on the track, put into rest and recovery, put into the gym and put into their diet and nutrition so that every calorie they consume benefits their training regimen. These hours and dedication are incredible.

The sacrifice of professional athletes is incredible: living away from home, constantly training, constantly racing, always on the move and scraping together money in order to compete, buy equipment, train and race. Not every elite athlete earns millions in prize money and sponsorship. In fact, very few do. But, regardless of their earnings, every elite athlete knows one thing, and that is effort—training until you throw up, pushing your body to its absolute limit to see what it can do, working so hard and exerting so much effort that you can't walk after a race or can't breathe properly when you get out of the pool, get off the track or get off the bike, training through injury and pushing through pain.

One of my good friends is a former competitive road cyclist who competed in teams in Australia, the US and Europe and enjoyed incredible success. She knows the meaning of pushing through. Alex Rhodes was on a training run in Germany in 2005 when she and her fellow cyclists were hit by a car. Alex suffered 30 spinal fractures, crushed lungs and massive internal trauma and was placed in an induced coma for eight days. Despite that, she came back to competitive cycling and played a tactical role in the women's 25-kilometre points race, helping her teammates win gold and silver in the 2006 Commonwealth Games, just one year after the accident. Alex did this under her own steam—came back, trained, pushed and strove faster, higher and stronger—and was successful. How incredible and how satisfying to have done that fairly with integrity against all the odds. Alex and I often talk about our previous sporting careers, noting, of course, that hers was an actual career. Mine was more of a splash in the pool. But we love talking about training and how we used to work hard in the pool, on the track and in the gym.

We talk about the thrill of racing and competition and how we hope our respective children and stepchildren will develop the same competitive drive that we both still have, that love of training hard, that love of feeling completely exhausted but completely satisfied that you've given everything no matter the result, that love of being able to look at yourself in the mirror and say, 'I did everything I possibly could have to win.' Alex and I have also talked about doping—the prevalence, the dangers and the sheer unfairness of it—and how it wrecks sport, how it destroys dreams and how it is the very opposite of faster, higher, stronger. It's cheating. It's wrong. It cheats the fans, the officials, the sponsors, the volunteers and the other competitors.

When I was younger, I was a Lance Armstrong fan, and who wasn't? I was in awe of his mental toughness, his anaerobic fitness and his strength—seven Tour de France titles in a row from 1999 to 2005, earning him fame and fortune. But in 2012 the US Anti-Doping Agency charged Armstrong with the use of performance enhancing drugs. Armstrong ultimately didn't contest the charges, which resulted in the loss of his Tour de France titles and a ban from the sport of cycling.

Then in October 2013 the agency released a report that declared Armstrong had been part of the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping program that sport had ever seen, and in January of that year he admitted that he had been doping for all of his Tour de France wins. He was a cheat. His wins had not exclusively been his own effort, him pushing his body to its absolute maximum off his own steam. He had achieved his version of faster, higher, stronger by cheating on an enormous scale. His ego meant he cheated and wrecked the Tour de France for a lot of people for a long time.

In Australia, we don't accept this. Australia has been and must continue to be a world leader in sport integrity and in favour always of supporting clean, fair and safe sport. We kicked this off in this country in 1990, when we established the Australian Sports Drug Agency to combat the use of prohibited drugs in Australian sport. This was nine years before the formation of the World Anti-Doping Agency. We did this because we wanted to ensure that when Australians play sport the contest is fair and when Australians watch sport they can trust the result. In 2003, nine years after we established the Australian Sports Drug Agency, the World Anti-Doping Code was first adopted, taking effect in 2004.

It has been amended five times as part of its standard review process, and the revised 2027 World Anti-Doping Code will be effective as of 1 January 2027. It is right that the code is regularly reviewed to make sure it's contemporary and strong so it provides workable and harmonised global anti-doping policies. It provides the framework that allows athletes to compete under the same core anti-doping rules wherever they are in the world. As the agency responsible for combating doping in sport in Australia, Sport Integrity Australia led Australia's participation in the review process, and it's now working with sports stakeholders to ensure we implement the 2027 code ahead of 1 January next year. This will be achieved through an integrated package of amendments to primary legislation, regulations and the Australian National Anti-Doping Policy.

This bill delivers the required legislative changes through specific amendments to the Sport Integrity Australia Act 2020 and the National Sports Tribunal Act 2019, which is the antidoping legislation that gives effect to Australia's international obligations under the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport. The convention requires states parties to implement arrangements that are consistent with the principles of that code. To ensure the continued operation of a globally harmonised antidoping framework, international sporting federations and governments are now required to amend their own antidoping frameworks to align with the revised code and standards. As a signatory to that convention, Australia is also required to align its antidoping arrangements with the principles in the code.

The bill amends the Sport Integrity Australia Act to implement three code revisions. Firstly, it will allow athletes to seek review by the National Sports Tribunal, as Australia's national level appeal body of decisions, to deny a therapeutic use exemption. Secondly, it will alter the process by which mandatory and voluntary provisional sanctions such as provisional suspensions are implemented to meet the new operational independence requirements imposed on Sport Integrity Australia by the code. Thirdly, it will make changes to the mandatory publication on Sport Integrity Australia's violations list in certain limited circumstances.

With respect to human rights, this bill engages with article 14(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which provides that all persons are entitled to a fair and public hearing before a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law. With respect to the therapeutic use exemption, the bill establishes a pathway for athletes to seek independent review in the National Sports Tribunal of any decision to deny an exemption. By transferring review of these decisions to Australia's national level appeal body for antidoping matters, this amendment promotes the right to a fair hearing by strengthening the independence and accountability of decisions affecting athletes' rights and interests, and gives effect to the appeal requirements of the 2027 code.

The operational independence aspect of the bill also engages with article 14(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This amendment promotes the effective and independent administration of Australia's antidoping framework by enhancing the operational independence of Sport Integrity Australia in accordance with the requirements of the revised code, which calls for greater operational independence in the administration of antidoping programs, reflecting concerns about potential conflicts of interest where sporting organisations are responsible for decisions affecting their own athletes.

The amendments, therefore, do not limit any recognised human right. Rather, they support the integrity, impartiality and independence of antidoping decision-making processes which underpin procedural fairness and confidence in the administration of the antidoping system. The bill is compatible with human rights because it promotes the right to a fair hearing and supports the independent, transparent and effective administration of Australia's antidoping framework.

For decades, athletes have used performance-enhancing substances and methods to improve athletic performance and gain a competitive edge. This not only compromises athletes' health, wellbeing and reputation; it ruins sport. A robust antidoping regime is essential to protect athlete health, maintain fair competition and preserve public trust in sport.

Coming up, as well as our regular domestic sports league competitions, next year we will have athletes from all around the world compete on our shores in the 2027 Netball World Cup and 2027 Rugby World Cup. Then, in 2032, we host the Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games. I want to watch all this in the knowledge that the competition is clean and fair, and that 'faster, higher, stronger' has been fairly achieved. This bill, together with Australia's ratification of the Macolin Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions, illustrates Australia's commitment to ensure that I, together with all Australians, will be able to do just that. I commend the bill to the Chamber.

No true sports follower likes cheats, and the Sport Legislation Amendment (World Anti-Doping Code Implementation) Bill 2026 absolutely puts Australia at the forefront of combating cheating in sport. This is a necessity. Sadly, we do have some sports men and women throughout the world who do things to their bodies, take things, to enhance their ability to win a piece of tin, to win something that they otherwise would not have gained—to cheat. This bill puts Australia's legislation in line with the revised World Anti-Doping Code and international standards, which is required in order to host international sporting events. And when it comes to hosting world events, Australia is very much at the forefront on the international stage.

The four updates in this legislation are to: (1) enhance an athlete's appeal rights for therapeutic use exemption decisions, providing an independent pathway through the National Sports Tribunal, (2) transfer responsibility for imposing consequences to Sports Integrity Australia, which was previously the sporting code body, (3) ensure that publication decisions balance the public interest with privacy safeguards—for example, a no-fault and minors, and (4) update the definition of an athlete, removing the domestic definition of post six months of last completion.

Australia is a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Association, or WADA, which updates its international standards every six years. The last update approved by WADA was in 2019 and was implemented by countries including Australia for 2021, when the coalition was in office. Following a two-year global review by WADA, the revised 2027 code was approved in December last year and will begin on 1 January next year. Australia, through Sport Integrity Australia, took part throughout the review process. It worked through this with athletes, sporting organisations, stakeholders, the National Sports Tribunal, the Sports Drug Medical Advisory Committee, the Australian Sports Commission, peak sporting bodies and Australian antidoping experts. To maintain a globally harmonised antidoping framework, all code signatories, including us, are in the process of reviewing and updating their frameworks to comply with the revised code and international standards by New Year's Day 2027.

I need to stress that these amendments are unrelated to athlete gender matters. That's separate. Sport Integrity Australia has engaged with the World Anti-Doping Association extensively on this process for more than two years. That process has also involved regular consultation with major sporting bodies, athletes and athlete associations. The office of the shadow minister for the arts, sport and youth, the member for Moncrieff, has been in contact with the department and has gained a full briefing. I appreciate that, on behalf of the coalition. That's important, it's necessary and it's to be expected.

We know that Australia is a great sporting nation. We punch well above our weight. It doesn't matter whether it's individual sports or team sports; our weather, our venues and just our true national spirit and pride get us across the line on so many occasions. Most Australians really love our sport, and all Australians want to see us succeed—but want to see us succeed in a fair way. The concept of the game is to play within the spirit. Yes, it's to win, but it's about quality participation, fair competition, the teamwork, the culture and what it provides to community, whether it's park sport or whether it's at what I think is the greatest theatre for sport in the world, the Melbourne Cricket Ground—and I say that as a New South Welshmen. I see you raising your eyebrows, Deputy Speaker Wilkie—a true Tasmanian, as the member for Clark—but the MCG is the most amazing and remarkable sporting stadium. I've been to many, and it is something to behold. When you get a packed crowd for the Boxing Day cricket test or that one day in September, the Australian Football League Grand Final, the MCG is the place to be. While I'm at it, there's no greater horse race than the great two-miler at Flemington, either, on that first Tuesday in November.

Australia is a world leader in sports integrity. It has a longstanding and proud record of supporting clean, fair and safe sport. I want to digress just a little and talk about the Stawell Gift. The Stawell Gift is a famous footrace in country Victoria. This year's winner, Olufemi Komolafe, won the Easter Monday 120-metre event off a five-metre handicap in a very impressive time of 12.03 seconds. This fellow has attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Tragically for him, he failed a doping test due to inadvertently taking a banned substance found in ADHD medication that he was on that was prescribed to him by his sister, who is a doctor, to assist with his concentration in his studies. He lost the title, something which was obviously very prestigious and important for him, and the $40,000 winner's cheque. He also received a 12-month ban after Sport Integrity Australia accepted that the breach was accidental and that the athlete cooperated fully.

It reinforces the fact that Australia will always put what is right over an inadvertent mistake. He remained on the medication moving forward. He was reportedly unaware that the specific substance was banned in competition by Sport Integrity Australia and WADA and that he needed to file for a therapeutic-use exemption. Those exemptions are there for athletes who need to be on a certain medication for certain conditions and still be able to compete in certain events. ADHD medications are banned in sport for their potential performance-enhancing effects, with athletes able to use them only if they have a medical diagnosis and it's part of their treatment. It really brings home the fact that athletes have to be especially careful when using such substances. The retrospective winner, runner-up Jake Ireland, was elevated to the official winner, and good luck to him. But it was so disappointing for the one who was across the line and breasted the tape first.

I also want to talk just a little about the Essendon Football Club. We know that Essendon has not won a premiership for a long, long time. I was in parliament, as were you, Deputy Speaker, when the supplements saga occurred. That led to some very harsh outcomes. Some might say they were very appropriate outcomes. Without wanting to be partisan, there were suggestions of political interference in timeliness over when things were pushed and taken—not taken by players but taken to certain levels of jurisdiction by the parliament. It ended up with the football club, the Bombers, being fined $2 million, barred from playing in the 2013 AFL finals and stripped of draft picks. Senior coach James Hird was suspended for 12 months, and that had all sorts of implications for his life, both personally and professionally. Sports scientist Stephen Dank received a lifetime ban from the AFL and the National Rugby League, and Jobe Watson subsequently relinquished and was stripped of his 2012 Brownlow Medal. That had real and lasting implications for the 34 players from Essendon guilty of doping.

But, as I say, sport and parliament probably don't mix that well. We often just allow the sporting administrative codes to sort out their own issues, and that's probably the sensible and wise thing to do. Unfortunately, there were all sorts of allegations—that the timing of certain events in the chronology of the Essendon supplements saga were done to aid a certain political outcome. But, as I say, I digress.

As a signatory to the UNESCO antidoping convention and as the Oceania representative on the WADA, on the executive committee and associated committees, Australia through Sport Integrity Australia has been integral in shaping the World Anti-Doping Code. I do commend the government for what it's done in this regard, enhancing and building upon what the coalition did. I acknowledge the fact that we as a nation are hosting the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics. If ever there is a time for us to be squeaky clean when it comes to supplements and substances, it will be then, noting that the 2000 Olympics in Sydney to this day are still considered one of the finest of the modern-era games. They're games which, I might add—and I'm just sorry that the member for Adelaide is not here to hear me say this, but I'll certainly pass it on—were started by the Greeks. Noting too that the member for Adelaide is currently recovering from knee surgery, I'm not quite sure whether he thinks that his sporting potential will be enhanced by said surgery, but I do wish him all the very best in his recovery efforts because he's a good friend of mine and he's a good friend of the parliament's.

The World Anti-Doping Code does provide the framework allowing athletes to compete under the same core antidoping rules, and that is paramount. The consistency has to be there. It allows countries to, as I said before, host world sporting competitions, and making sure that it's updated right for implementation is exactly what happened under the former, coalition government in 2021. For this iteration, as I said before, the code was approved last year and will begin next year. Specifically, the 2027 code strengthens the effectiveness, fairness and consistency of the international antidoping system.

That is why I do say to the government that this legislation is necessary. Again I commend the government for doing this, including enhanced operational independence and improved athlete appeal rights—because that's important—and updated public disclosure provisions, which are also very important. Australia, through Sport Integrity Australia, participated through the review process, and it's good that we have a seat at those important discussions, at the table where these things are being discussed, because, as I say, there's no country on earth with more of a per capita record of sporting achievement than Australia. With that, I commend the legislation.

Debate adjourned.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 19:33