AOC: The President of the Australian Olympic Committee, John Coates, has told the AOC Annual General Meeting a lack of investigative powers has left the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) “with its hands tied behind its back”.
Coates was repeating his call for the introduction of “coercive powers” which require athletes to attend an interview to answer questions, give information and produce documents, even if to do so might tend to incriminate them.
He has argued in support of coercive powers since the year 2000. In 2013 the Senate rejected coercive powers when they considered the ASADA Amendment Bill.
Coates told representatives from his member Olympic sports in Sydney today, “unfortunately the Government lacked the numbers in the Senate to pass this aspect of the amending Bill and we are left with an Act that excuses individuals from answering questions or giving information if the answer or the information might tend to incriminate them.
“When it comes to investigating most of the nine anti-doping rule violations which are not based on the presence of a prohibited substance in an athlete’s sample, ASADA has been largely left with its hands tied behind its back,” Coates said.
Coates reminded his member sports the AOC had filled the void in respect of alleged anti-doping rule violations by the insertion of more expansive “coercive powers” in amendments to the AOC Anti-Doping By-Law in May 2013.
Under that By-Law all athletes in an Australian Olympic Team, and athlete support personnel are obligated to “co-operate with and assist ASADA, by:
a) attending an interview to fully and truthfully answer questions;
b) giving information; and
c) producing documents,
in an investigation being conducted by ASADA, even if to do so might tend to incriminate them or expose them to a penalty, sanction or other disciplinary measure.
What our elected representatives in Canberra would or could not do for ASADA, we have done for them,” Coates said.
Coates explained one of the prime purposes of the World Anti-Doping (WAD) Code and the WAD Program is to ensure harmonised, coordinated and effective anti-doping programs to protect the clean athletes both internationally and in domestic competitions and it applies equally for all sports, Olympic and non-Olympic.
“It is just plain wrong to say, as I have read, that the WAD Code was not designed for team sports. These commentators forget that the highly professional team sports of football, ice hockey, basketball and volleyball and the other team sports of handball, rugby sevens, hockey and water polo, which have always been bound by the Code at both the international and national levels, are Olympic sports.”
During the AGM Coates also discussed the AOC’s response to revelations at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
“While we do not know of any incidents that have occurred in our Teams, that is not to say there have been none,” he said.
“We are committed to protecting athletes from coaches, officials and others who may seek to take advantage of their unique and trusted relationship with them.”
The AOC has introduced mandatory Working with Children checks for all coaches, staff and officials joining any Australian Olympic Team, but Coates says alone the checks are not enough because they only identify those who have been caught.
“On 31 July 2014 I wrote to the Chair of the Royal Commission, the Hon Justice Peter McClellan AM for advice and, with his support, we have been working with the Royal Commission to ensure we effectively protect the children in our care, and in sport generally, from sexual abuse.
“We are also studying the highly regarded programs and practices of the British Olympic Association and U.S. Olympic Committee in this area. I expect this will result in improvements to our policies and procedures including heightened supervision, training and whistle-blower measures.”
