Hayes John: Sports Anti-Doping Bill — In Committee 
Hayes John: Sports Anti-Doping Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:634;Page:5977] 
JOHN HAYES (National—Wairarapa) 
: 
 Thank you for the opportunity to speak this afternoon on the Sports Anti-Doping Bill. I think that sport has a value and an importance of itself and when we look at sport in the broader context we see it is clear that the values of sport are of massive importance to individual behaviour and also to our society. Sporting activities teach our children a sense of fairness and cooperation. Through sport our youngsters can play win make goals and set goals for themselves. They can also learn of the disappointment that comes with losing in a sporting activity and I think that experience provides them with an opportunity to do better next time. As for our society sport is an important element of all citizens’ lives. Sporting events bring us together particularly rugby and netball—whether provincial or international—as do events like the America’s Cup yacht race. They bring our communities together and sport plays a really crucial role in our society in doing that. 
Sport is also a business and often it is a big business. Sport generates large sums of money and it is also an industry. Sport plays a major role in expanding our economy and in providing employment. It contributes increasingly to the dynamic of economic growth as we saw after we won the America’s Cup here in New Zealand. There are many good aspects to sport that are essential for us as individuals. I think therefore that we need to protect and safeguard those aspects for the sake of our children for the sake of our industry for the sake of sportspeople and for the sake of us all. We are all stakeholders and there is a lot at stake. 
Increasingly the core values of sport are becoming subject to serious threat through the use of drugs—as my colleague from Otago Jacqui Dean pointed out—and it is pleasing that this bill is designed to protect the good from the bad and the ugly. The main danger we face with regard to sport in this country is cheating and I think that either one cheats or one does not. Cheating a little bit or cheating once in a while is cheating whichever way we look at it. So we either play the game or we do not. I am sure that every one of us has witnessed a dirty tackle an unjust rule or a one-eyed referee—or that is what we might have thought—and such experiences particularly if we had them as children give us a clear sense of what is right and what is wrong. We do not tend to forget the childhood indignation caused by injustice and cheating. 
Taking drugs in order to enhance sporting performance is cheating. Doping contains risks for the individual but more important it undermines the credibility of sport. Doping is indeed cheating—it is cheating fellow competitors and not least it is cheating oneself. Every child knows about cheating and also children’s exposure to drugs in schools is encouraging them to walk a dangerous path. Doping without a doubt is the most serious problem we confront. It is pleasing to see that the World Anti-Doping Agency has given us a worldwide instrument that Governments and sporting organisations can use in cooperating against that common fraud. Through the adoption of the Unesco International Convention Against Doping in Sport we now have the framework to address the issue. The legislation we are giving a second reading to today will enable our Government to contribute to that process. 
Accordingly I commend members of the Committee for joining forces in order to ensure good governance democracy the rule of law fairness and physical and moral integrity. The convention will apply to organisations and industry and it involves the media and civil society. We all must come together and work to confront the problem of doping in sport. Only through a set of commonly agreed principles can we ensure accountability in the wider sense. Government alone cannot address the challenges in this area; we must work together with all parties. The media in particular have a very important role to play in drawing to the community’s attention cheating and doping in sport. I believe that all of us must cooperate very thoroughly in this matter. It is really good to have the opportunity here this afternoon to play the game with unity in this Chamber. 
The National Party supports this bill. Thank you.