Hayes John: Sports Anti-Doping Bill — Second Reading 
Hayes John: Sports Anti-Doping Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:634;Page:5605] 
JOHN HAYES (National—Wairarapa) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to be here in the House this evening with very few dopes where we are engaged in debating this legislation on an anti-doping convention. But I have to say that the Government is in complete disarray. 
At 1748 hours this evening the Government released a press statement under the name of the Minister the Hon Trevor Mallard announcing that New Zealand leads the way on the anti-doping convention. The press statement states: “ ‘New Zealand is one of the first countries to become party to the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport’ … Trevor Mallard announced today.” That was before this legislation was debated in the House. He announced in the press statement that we formally became a party to this convention last weekend. It seems to me to be ironic that we are joining things before we actually have the legislation in place to underpin them. In fact I think it is a damn outrage. 
Then when I thought about the Minister’s statement I noticed the originality of this Labour Government. I will read from the  
Hansard 
 in the name of one Chris Tremain my colleague from the next electorate north in Napier. He said during the first reading of this bill: “As a result the National Party supports the introduction of the bill. We believe that it will seek to preserve what is intrinsically valuable about sport which is characterised by values such as honesty ethics fairness health respect courage commitment and solidarity.” 
I ask members to remember those words because tonight in the press statement being used by the Labour Government the Minister states “… where honesty ethics fairness health”—have members heard those words before—“respect and courage drive outstanding performances …”. Labour members are stealing National Party words and promoting them as their own such is the bereft nature of this administration. 
From a foreign affairs perspective I would just like to recall that in February 1999—this is now 2006 7 years later—the IOC convened the first world conference on doping in sport. It was attended by the sports movements and Governments of the world to consider the problem of doping. As a result of that sportspeople came together and countries came together because it was recognised that the issue of doping in sport just like the bad behaviour of our young people in our electorates cannot be tackled by one party alone. There are some actions that sports organisations can take and some they cannot—and similarly with Governments. But by sport and Government joining forces the problem of doping in sport could be better tackled for the good of sport throughout the world. 
It is on that basis that I am here tonight to support this legislation on the part of the people in my electorate the Wairarapa. “Be true to yourself be true to your sport” is the message I want to deliver to New Zealand sportspeople to coaches to teachers to family and to community members who are involved in sport. That message is geared towards reminding sports participants about the need to engage in sport in an ethical manner to respect the principles of fair play honesty and respect for diversity and to be completely doping free. I have the same expectations of young people in my electorate who earlier in the week and last week I talked about as being somewhat out of control. 
I rise tonight on behalf of the people in my electorate which as you know Mr Deputy Speaker goes from Cook Strait through to the back of Te Mata peak. My constituents on the southern east coast of the North Island are strong supporters of sport. Whether it is the Wairarapa Bush rugby team which is doing so well at the moment or one of 750 cyclists who rode around Lake Wairarapa on a beautiful day last Sunday people in my community are opposed in all respects to the use of drugs in sport. My community is opposed as well to the production of drugs particularly P which I know to be taking place in my electorate. 
Accordingly as a member of the National Party—the next Government of New Zealand—I rise to support a legislative framework to facilitate our country’s compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code. For listeners beyond this House I would just say that what we are talking about here in relation to this business of doping is the use of performance-enhancing drugs such as anabolic steroids particularly those that are forbidden by the organisations that regulate competitions. 
Eric Roy 
: Testosterone. 
JOHN HAYES 
: Yes testosterone is a drug. I tell my colleague from the deep south that the first recorded attempt to enhance the performance of a sportsman occurred as early as the 8th century BC when ancient Greek Olympians ate sheep’s testicles. Today we would recognise that as being a source of testosterone and we have a lot that in the Wairarapa too. 
Eric Roy 
: Very tasty. 
JOHN HAYES 
: It is very tasty yes I am well aware. 
Eric Roy 
: Prairie oysters! 
JOHN HAYES 
: Yes it could be a substitute for Viagra. As early as the late 19th century professional cyclists were using substances like caffeine cocaine and ether-coated sugar cubes to improve performance reduce pain and delay fatigue. In 1904 Olympian Thomas Hicks from America won the marathon at St Louis and collapsed. It took hours to revive him. He had taken brandy mixed with strychnine—I know of some other people who could use that. Anyway he took it to help him win a gold medal. The Nazi German athletes were rumoured to use rudimentary testosterone—advanced from the state of sheep appendages—in the 1936 summer Olympics. At the world weightlifting championships of 1954 there were the first unconfirmed testosterone injections by Soviet athletes—the doping attempt ended in the Soviets’ winning the gold medal in most weight classes and breaking several world records. 
During the 1967 Tour de France Tom Simpson collapsed during the ascent of Mont Ventoux. Despite mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and the administration of oxygen plus a helicopter airlift to a nearby hospital he died. Two tubes of amphetamines and a further empty tube were found in a rear pocket of his racing jersey. The famous case of drug use in the 1988 summer Olympics also comes to mind with the name Ben Johnson being prominent in most people’s minds. We need to bring these things to a halt. For this reason National is very very supportive of this bill. 
Sport is about competing. It is about performing to the best of one’s ability; the pursuit of human and sporting excellence. Taking prohibited substances or using prohibited methods is cheating it is unfair and it is contrary to the ethics of sport and fair play. Doping undermines the fundamental spirit of sport and severely damages the integrity image and value of sport. We firmly stand against it—as we stand against a Government that plagiarises the words of its opponents to use in its press statements and as we stand against a Government that signs up to agreements offshore without first having the legislative framework go through this Parliament so that it can act honourably. 
We note tonight the total silence in this debate on the part of the Government. It concerns me greatly and it should concern the people of New Zealand that the Government is silent on this issue just as it is silent in our communities on bringing and encouraging our young people to play sport and to develop standards ethics and behavioural patterns that are acceptable. I am really concerned about the damage being done in our communities by the policies of this Government which taxes our parents so heavily that they have to spend their whole day at work and they are ignoring their kids. Their kids are not in organised sport. Their kids are exposed to drugs. 
Children in my community display unacceptable behaviour and in my own experience there is no support from parents because they are too busy. There is no support from the police force at a community level to deal with this situation and to help children define boundaries. I think the time has come to hold this Government to task to deliver decent outcomes to our young people as well as to our sportsmen. Thank you.