Australia's major sporting codes and their athletes will be subject to a "powerful new national anti-corruption watchdog with broad powers" to tackle match-fixing, doping and organized crime in sport, according to Paul Sakkal of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. The new regime seeks to address the "growing risk" posed to Australian sport by "unregulated betting, sophisticated doping schemes and corruption." The federal government said that the new body will "help prevent events" such as the Essendon supplements saga and the recent men's cricket scandal from occurring again. Additional powers will be handed to the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority, which will "eventually be brought within the new commission." A two-year trial will commence for a new sports tribunal, which will investigate cases of anti-doping and be able to compel evidence, in what "could be described as a national sports court." Sports Integrity Australia, the new commission, and the National Sports Tribunal, the new quasi-sports court, will be announced on Tuesday as part of the federal government's response to an inquiry by former police corruption royal commissioner James Wood. Possible contenders to lead the new watchdog are Victorian Racing Integrity Commissioner Sal Perna and ASADA CEO David Sharpe (SMH, 2/11).
