01 May 2020
Parliament passed the National Sports Tribunal Bill, opens in a new tab on 11 September 2019 which establishes an independent tribunal for the hearing and resolution of sporting disputes.
With the Bill now passed, it is expected that the Tribunal will commence in March 2020 (at the latest). This is a major milestone in the ongoing implementation of the Government’s Response , opens in a new tabto the Wood Review.
The focus will now shift to other aspects of the National Sports Tribunal’s (NST) legal framework – the National Sports Tribunal Rules and the CEO’s Practice and Procedure Determination – which continue to be refined in collaboration with the NST Advisory Group. The Taskforce is also focussed on the appointment of a CEO and tribunal members and the employment of registry staff.
Accessing the National Sports Tribunal jurisdiction
The establishing legislation for the NST has been crafted to maximise flexibility in sports’ engagement with the NST’s jurisdiction.
It is envisaged that in time, anti-doping and other policies of national-level sporting bodies will specifically provide for the prevention and resolution of disputes through the NST. In the interim, however, the Government has ensured the NST’s legal framework provides for access to the NST’s jurisdiction case by case in all three Divisions: the Anti-Doping Division; the General Division; and the Appeals Division. The Tribunal will provide arbitration, mediation, conciliation and case-appraisal services.
This means parties to an eligible dispute can access the right Division of the NST they need, when they need it. For example, a sport may utilise the first instance Divisions (the Anti-Doping Division and the General Division) for eligible disputes, while others may wish to conduct first instance matters in-house and utilise the Appeals Division when first-instance decisions are challenged. Some sports may wish to conduct arbitration in-house but access the alternative services offered by the NST, such as mediation, conciliation and case appraisal.
Case by case access to the NST means that by agreement, parties to a dispute (usually an athlete or support person and a national level sporting body) can make an application to the NST to have a matter heard even where a sports’ rules or other constitutive documents do not specifically refer to the NST, or even where they specifically refer to another method of dispute resolution.
For anti-doping matters, such an agreement will need to be between the individual, the sporting body and the CEO of ASADA (or from 1 July 2020, the CEO of Sport Integrity Australia). This recognises the role of ASADA in approving sports’ ASADA-compliant anti-doping policies.
The establishing legislative framework of the NST also enables disputes arising below the national level to be brought before the NST, provided the dispute arises under the rules of the national-level sporting body and the national-level sporting body agrees to engage the NST.
NST information sessions are coming soon. Details will be promoted in future editions of Sports Integrity Matters and via other communication channels.
For any enquiries in relation to the NST, please contact the Sports Integrity Taskforce sportsintegritytaskforce@health.gov.au