Opposition grows over anti-doping laws push

The government's bid to grant the national anti-doping authority star chamber powers similar to those enjoyed by state corruption watchdogs appears doomed, with the Greens joining the Coalition on Thursday in refusing to support the proposed law.

Greens senator Richard Di Natale claimed rapists and murderers would have greater legal rights than athletes if the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority Amendment Bill 2013 was to be passed by Parliament.

Under the changes to the existing law, ASADA would be given the right to compel athletes to submit to interviews - with fines of up to $5100 for those who withhold information from investigators.
The burden of proof would be shifted to athletes to prove they had done nothing wrong.



Senator Di Natale said: ''We don't give the police the sort of powers that are being proposed here when they investigate … a murder investigation or a rape investigation.

''It appears to be a knee-jerk response being rushed through the Parliament next week on the back of the government's recent controversy when it announced with the Australian Crime Commission that it had significant concerns about doping in sport.

Senator Di Natale's colleague Senator Penny Wright, the Greens spokeswoman on legal affairs, said the bill would ''overturn some pretty fundamental legal principles'' and was not supported by legal experts.

"Removing the privilege against self-incrimination, a basic right, isn't justified by the context here," she said. "The bill reverses the fundamental principle of 'innocent until proven guilty' - we don't do this for criminal matters, so why do it for sport?"