King Colin: Sports Anti-Doping Bill — In Committee 
King Colin: Sports Anti-Doping Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:634;Page:6138] 
COLIN KING (National—Kaikoura) 
: 
 It is indeed an honour to speak to the Sports Anti-Doping Bill. I would like to concentrate just a bit on Part 3. My learned colleague talked about the tribunal and it surprises me to some degree that it has taken this length of time to put these very important structures in place so that we can move forward. Having come from an organisation—Shearing Sports NZ—that received funding from Sport and Recreation New Zealand we had to have a drug policy and implement it. Anybody who ever went for a shearing record had a blood sample taken for testing. So it is quite interesting to see that we are putting in place the Sports Anti-Doping Bill now and to see how it is structured. It is quite significant that this be given quite a bit of credibility if confidence is to be built based around this function. 
We have Drug Free Sport New Zealand the Sports Tribunal of New Zealand and rules that must be upheld. It is interesting that membership of the tribunal consists of a minimum of five and a maximum of nine members. When we look at the requirements for appointment as a member we see that those people must be very appropriately qualified so we could say they do not just fall off the back of a truck. The seriousness of this statutory tribunal is recognised by the fact that those people are appointed by the Governor-General on the recommendation of the Minister who consults with the board of Sport and Recreation New Zealand. 
The Governor-General appoints the chairperson and that person must not only have a good knowledge of sport but also legal knowledge. That is very important. If the tribunal does not have the overall trust and confidence of the entire institutions of sport when it is dealing with matters brought before it then it will collapse and will not uphold the good intentions of the sports anti-doping legislation. So Part 3 is very important. The Governor-General also appoints the deputy chairperson. The chairperson deputy chairperson and at least one other member must be a barrister or solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand with no less than 7 years’ practice and must have substantial experience in legal issues affecting sport or have had a substantial involvement in sport. They need a minimum of a 10-year aggregate period of experience in a sporting body or a high level of sporting experience. 
The tribunal in itself has to be quite robust and because it is a statutory body its functions go to considerable lengths to ensure that its powers are carried out. It has the power to summon witnesses. It also has the power to ensure that those people who refuse to turn up do so at the risk of a fine—the fines are spelt out in Part 3—so there can be no doubt in the minds of those concerned about what they are undertaking. However the tribunal’s importance is also recognised by the fact that costs can be imposed where those people do not turn up or do not subscribe to the appropriate course of conduct. An order for those costs can be filed in the District Court and may be enforced as a judgment of that court. 
This bill is a foundation cornerstone to having robust sporting anti-doping legislation and as such finds its place appropriately—although considerably later than it should have been—on the statute book. Interestingly only two submissions were received. I would not say that in itself would indicate a lack of interest. I would probably say those two submissions were quite appropriate but it also indicates there was a universal acceptance of the importance of this legislation. 
So as we go forward supporting this Sports Anti-Doping Bill we recognise that New Zealand does have a good record to uphold in the world of sport. We want to be able to hold up our sporting heroes as examples and sport is probably the very best activity we can encourage our young ones to participate in. When one drives back from the airport in Blenheim one goes past the sign “A child in sport stays out of court” and as long as our young ones do not dabble in drugs that would tend to be the case. 
If people who are involved in sport aim to be at the top end and are tempted to cheat we say that cheating is not allowed. If those people take stimulants of a prescribed nature that exaggerate their performance whether in training or in competition that is cheating—and they will be punished by the tribunal. The tribunal has a set of rules which it will uphold with integrity and honour.