Sports united in fight against corruption

At a time when the cricket world has been stunned by the revelations of corruption in the game, Australian sports administrators will come together in Melbourne today to strengthen the position of all our sports against the insidious effects of illegal gambling.

The Australian Cricket Board is hosting the Sports Gambling Round Table and is greatly encouraged by the way in which Australia's sporting codes, the sports gambling industry and representatives from both sides of Federal politics have committed to this initiative.

It is a sign that all of us are prepared to grasp the nettle and to make sure that Australian sport is properly protected from the corruption. I am sure that there is much we can learn from our shared experience.

Sport is very much a part of the cultural fabric of Australian life. The stunned reaction in Australia to the revelations in cricket reinforces the importance that Australians place on sport.

It also reaffirms the basic belief in one of our national values, fair play. This value underpins any sporting endeavor and the notion that a sport is contested on anything but its merits is abhorrent.

Obviously, all Australia's sporting codes will be vigorously and aggressively defending the integrity of their sports and today's meeting is one of the strategic moves that the sports industry can take to shore up its defences against corruption.

In reality, with the millions of dollars now flowing through sport in this country the risk of people seeking to corrupt players or officials and to undermine the integrity of Australian sport is greater than ever before.

Australian cricket has already had one brush with illegal bookmakers involving Shane Warne and Mark Waugh. With the benefit of hindsight, the Board and the players involved would have preferred to deal with the matter in a different way. Nevertheless, the experience has lead to a more effective system to deal with this issue in Australian cricket.

The painful but necessary investigations of the O'Regan Inquiry into Australian cricket established a more comprehensive program to ensure that the game is now better equipped to deal with any hint of corruption involving the Australian team or officials.

In reality, there are three main weapons at the administrator's disposal in this fight - education, regulation and legislation. It is through the proper combination of these three tools that a strong defence can be built.

Effective education programs are designed and implemented to arm players, administrators and officials with the knowledge of the types of issues and situations that they will confront as an elite sports participant and how to deal with them.

Hand in glove with this must be effective regulation. Sports must develop appropriate and enforceable rules to govern the actions of their participants.

In the case of cricket there is the "ACB Code of Behavior" and the "ICC Code of Conduct" to regulate player and official behavior in relation to betting on cricket. In addition, there are a number of management processes that are also in place to monitor and address this issue.

The final component of an effective strategy is strong and enforceable government legislation.

As can be seen in cricket, one of the difficult issues surrounding this area is the ability of a sport to control the actions of individuals or groups that are outside the jurisdiction of the governing body yet who still seek to corrupt people within the game.

To be able to deal with these people it is essential that there is an effective legislative approach from government. As previously indicated, sport is an essential component of Australian society and an attack on sport must be met with a strong response.

In effect this means that in addition to being able to deal with the matter through their own regulations, Australian sporting administrators must also work with government to ensure that our legal systems is also able to deal effectively and efficiently with the issue should it ever occur in Australia.

In America, there are many instances of specific sports gambling legislation to govern the behavior of people within and outside sports and these may prove a useful model here.

At a time when the administration of sport has become more complex than ever before, when more money is flowing into sport than ever before and when people's enjoyment of sport is higher than ever before, it is essential that all people involved in sport protect the foundations on which this success is built.

In preparing for today's discussions, it is apparent that all sports have developed programs to deal with the issue of illegal gambling. I would expect that by sharing our knowledge we will all be able to build even stronger systems and processes to protect our sports.

Like it or not, overseas experience shows that this is an issue that is not going to go away. It is up to all sports administrators as trustees of their games to work tirelessly and aggressively to protect Australian sport and to preserve its place as an integral part of Australian society.