Page 1753 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 17 October 1989
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while they remain members of that body, while they seek to enter any contest sanctioned, organised or otherwise by either body; and that they finally declare that they have received a full copy of the local organisation's constitution, and they agree to further abide by the provisions of that constitution and amendments made. It is a declaration of drug-free status in a body that should be encouraged.
I commend to the Minister for sport, who is now talking to my friend Mr Collaery, that this is an organisation that could be assisted. It has a problem in that its members used to be able to use the Australian Institute of Sport facility for their training. Its elite athletes compete in a number of competitions locally, nationally and internationally, and initially they had 10 passes to work out at the Institute of Sport. These were taken away on the basis that it was too busy there. The officials of this organisation dispute that, and indeed indicated to me that you could fire a shotgun there at five o'clock in the afternoon and not hit anyone. They are somewhat concerned that their athletes are suffering in the lead-up to State titles, national titles, and international titles in Paris in May of next year.
This is an organisation which represents athletes who suffer from various disabilities, several of whom suffer from partial blindness. It has an athlete who is going to compete in the world blind powerlifting championships in Canada in the near future. These persons have lost their 10 passes to use the Institute of Sport facilities, and it would seem that there might well be something our local Government and the Commonwealth Government can do. I have already written to Senator Richardson on behalf of these athletes, and it may well be that if the Minister for sport has not been approached by them - I believe he probably has - I could supply him with details to assist these people. I think this is directly in line with what the Minister is purporting to assist and encourage, and that is drug-free sports.
These people have taken the lead, as it were, and set up a drug-free body, with a constitution, and I think they are deserving of encouragement which they have not really been given to date. I wonder whether there are other similar types of bodies which could be given further encouragement to advance this commendable initiative and policy which was enunciated by the Deputy Chief Minister on 27 September. I will provide him with further details in relation to this body if he does not have them already. I certainly think - and indeed the Liberal Party believes - there is no place for any illegal drugs in sport in the ACT, and every encouragement should be given to ensure that any athletes in any sports in Canberra participate drug-free.
MR WOOD (4.39): Mr Speaker, I join with all my colleagues in this unanimous condemnation of the use of drugs in sport. We all agree that they are incompatible. However,
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