The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) has welcomed Federal Government funding to establish an independent framework to deal with complaints and disputes in Australian sport.
The AOC has been working with Commonwealth Games Australia, Paralympics Australia and Sport Integrity Australia for several months to create an independent body for complaints around abuse, intimidation and other safeguarding issues.
AOC President John Coates says the injection of Federal funding will ensure a National Integrity Framework that will allow sports to deal with complaints in a fair, timely and transparent manner.
"We will be encouraging all our Member Sports to sign up to this framework. It will ease the financial burden on sports and give confidence to the sports community around transparency and independence.
"The AOC will continue to work with Sport Integrity Australia and the National Sports Tribunal to make sure this model is fit for purpose. The separation of powers between these two bodies is critical.
"The AOC has its own independent framework for dealing with Olympic Team selection disputes, but following the Tokyo and Beijing Winter Olympic Games, we will explore integrating our processes with those of the National Sports Tribunal.
"All sports receiving Federal Government funding are required to have a Member Protection Policy (MPP) and Child Safeguarding Policy that outline the expected standards of behaviour (codes of conduct) for everyone involved in the sports’ activities. This covers athletes, coaches, officials and other support personnel.
"I certainly welcome Sports Minister Richard Colbeck’s and the government’s commitment which will ensure commencement of operations from March next year.
"There is absolutely no place for abuse in sport and the $10 million in funding addresses the missing link for effectively investigating complaints," Mr Coates concluded.
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