Auchinvole Chris: Sports Anti-Doping Bill — In Committee 
Auchinvole Chris: Sports Anti-Doping Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:634;Page:5985] 
CHRIS AUCHINVOLE (National) 
: 
 The Sports Anti-Doping Bill is a good example of a bipartisan bill and it is a very important one because so much of our international reputation hangs on the activities of our athletes. But I am very reluctant to impose responsibility on our athletes without sharing a reasonable understanding of the situation. 
I guess when I speak on this part of the bill—which I am very pleased to support—I have to reflect that to date my life has spanned an era from what could be termed pre - drug use to widespread drug use. I can recall that when I was at school and I am sure some of my senior colleagues on that side of the Chamber can remember a similar period we only ever heard about drugs. They were not part of our life in any shape or form particularly from the point of view of performance-enhancing drugs at a sports level. But we were keen on sports and sports are an intensive competitive business. 
 Fairness has to be established by rules. It is not a natural feature of sport. And the rules have to be equally applied. In the case of really good performers they were often gifted with what we call a natural ability. Natural ability was one of the main contributors to people having real success in teams representing their schools. I suggest that life has continued on that basis for the majority of young sportspeople and sports-minded people ever since. 
I remember some years ago when my wife and I visited an isolated township in the far north in Tai Tokerau where the local population has an endemic drug-taking problem—a legacy of the hippie period of the 1970s. We were invited to take morning tea with the local schoolteachers who were getting ready for the forthcoming term. They explained to us the difficulty they had in helping kids to avoid getting hooked on drugs and how useful it was to encourage them in sport. They had to do it by the time the kids were about 10 or 11 years old. I guess things go in full circle. Once heavily into sports of a competitive nature young athletes of today have to be encouraged to avoid becoming hooked on performance-enhancing drugs. 
I have never actually excelled particularly in competitive athletics in field sports and I make no pretence that I have. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: That would be right. 
CHRIS AUCHINVOLE 
: But I did have some success in competitive sword fencing. I do not know what sports the Hon Clayton Cosgrove has excelled in; I have not heard about it yet. No doubt he will tell us. But I have never come close to any level of excellence that would lead me to tip the balance in my favour by taking performance-enhancing drugs. 
When one thinks though of the effort that goes into the training of modern athletes and sportsmen and sportswomen—the endless runs the swims the cycling whatever it is—one realises the huge commitment on the part of individuals their trainers their managers and their families. The temptation to use drugs must be enormous particularly if others are doing it too. The only way to prevent drugs in sports is to apprehend those who use them and deal with them in a way that discourages others. The whole regime must have a robust ethical norm that all athletes and trainers can have confidence in. How do we do that? We do it through good legislation and effective agencies. 
I note that David Gerrard the Chairperson of now Drug Free Sport New Zealand formerly known as New Zealand Sports Drug Agency says in his report “When good men (and women) do nothing bad things happen …”. In making his report on the activities of the agency he is happy to advise that clearly good men and women in his organisation have been working very hard. The work is not easy. Doping control officers have a difficult time. It is a job of unpredictable responses and less than warm welcomes. Theirs is frequently a thankless task. However the measure of their crucial input is recorded in the annual survey of athlete satisfaction and this year it affirms the confidence the majority of athletes have in the integrity of the process. They might not like it but it is fair and it works. That is the important thing. 
The international code the World Anti-Doping Code can be put in place by the legislative effect of the bill. To have the legislative structure will permit Drug Free Sport New Zealand to do its job. National sporting agencies will be able to adopt the rules through their anti-doping policies and in ways that bind national and international athletes as well as officials. 
The question was put that the amendments set out on Supplementary Order Paper 64 in the name of the Hon Trevor Mallard to Part 2 be agreed to. 
Amendments agreed to. 
Part 2 as amended agreed to.