Page 1196 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 2 April 2019
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The bill includes arrangements for the registration of participants in defined events, minimum standards for the conduct of events, and compliance and enforcement functions. These arrangements reflect community and industry expectations for managing these types of activities in the ACT
According to the bill, a controlled sport is a combat sport or “any other high-risk sport or activity prescribed by regulation”. This definition is an alternative to listing particular sports, where there is a risk that regulation of those sports could become outdated and in need of review. This also allows for new sports to be immediately covered by the bill if that is required.
The bill allows for light contact combat sports to be exempted by the minister from being a controlled sport, upon application. In making this declaration, the minister must consider a range of factors, including the techniques and amount of force used in the sport, the rules of the sport, and the risk of injury to participants. This exemption was included following feedback from the industry.
The bill replaces the Boxing Control Act, which was initially intended to cover only boxing and kickboxing. Since that piece of legislation was introduced, a number of new combat sports have emerged, including Muay Thai and mixed martial arts. New forms and styles of combat sports were not envisaged by the Boxing Control Act, which did not have appropriate oversight of safety and integrity measures for combat sports in the ACT. The existing legislation is outdated and inadequate, and this bill will ensure that commercial sporting events are now regulated appropriately in the territory.
Whilst many believe that the commercialisation and professionalisation of sports have led to a better sporting product, it has come with risk to the integrity of sports. With large sums of prize money on offer, and the increasing popularity of sports and online betting, results of sporting contests are at risk of being manipulated if the appropriate regulations are not in place to safeguard against these risks. Combat sports are unfortunately not immune from these risks, and this bill will allow spectators and participants in combat sports to be confident in the integrity of the result of the contest which they are participating in or watching.
Due to the high risk of injury associated with combat sports, it is important that the appropriate medical safeguards are in place for these sports. This is something that the Canberra community would expect. The bill is designed to be flexible enough for specific details, such as the medical equipment required for particular events, to be updated quickly through subordinate legislation as best practice recommendations change.
Under the current legislation, many of the safety and medical protocols and integrity measures exist without compliance and enforcement measures. This has meant that combat sports events in the territory have not been checked by authorised officers once the event is underway. This bill will fix this anomaly and bring the ACT into line with other jurisdictions. Inspectors will be given powers to monitor safety compliance, including testing medical equipment and ensuring that all medical checks have been
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