Page 1197 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 2 April 2019
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undertaken. This will significantly reduce the risk of serious injury, or worse, at commercial combat sporting events in the ACT.
I believe this bill will ultimately benefit the combat sports industry in the territory. It will provide certainty for the industry regarding the regulatory requirements for holding a commercial combat sport event. It will also improve the integrity and safety aspects of the industry, and bring the industry into line with community expectations, as well as the standards in other jurisdictions.
This bill has been some time in the making. The issue has been around for some time. I believe that Minister Barr, when he was the minister for sport, spent some time looking at this. Certainly in my time as the minister for sport we did some consultation work on this. I am very pleased that Minister Berry has now brought a bill to the Assembly. It is well time that we made an update to the Boxing Control Act and looked at the broader issues that are at play in this space of combat sports. On those grounds, the ACT Greens are pleased to support the bill today.
MS BERRY (Ginninderra—Deputy Chief Minister, Minister for Education and Early Childhood Development, Minister for Housing and Suburban Development, Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Minister for Sport and Recreation and Minister for Women) (4.16), in reply: First of all, I would like to thank Mr Milligan for the constructive negotiations that we have had around this bill. Reforms to combat sports legislation will improve safety and integrity in the combat sports industry.
Today I will move five government amendments. I present a revised explanatory statement to reflect these amendments and respond to the scrutiny committee’s questions. These amendments will reflect where we have been able to negotiate an agreed position with the opposition.
The bill development saw the ACT government examine many different models that operate both within Australia and around the world, as well as modernised operations here in the ACT. A key consideration in the design of the regulatory model has been to build the scheme around industry operations so as not to disrupt the sector. Like any sport, participation in combat sports has many benefits, such as increased fitness and social connectedness, but the safety and integrity risk cannot be ignored and that is why the government has developed this legislation.
The legislation has been drafted to ensure that the focus is primarily on registrable events, meaning that we expect minimal impact on participation-level sports such as junior martial arts. Part of the conversation I have heard is about why combat sports are being regulated by the government; why not other contact sports? The answer to this question is multifaceted. There are a number of reasons for this approach. Some combat sports have been regulated by the ACT government since 1993 under the Boxing Control Act. Industry have told the government that they do not want to move to a solely self-regulatory model, and the government feels that to do so would present unacceptable risks to safety and integrity. In short, this is not a whirlwind reform.
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