Page 2494 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 6 August 2013
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Environment and Sustainable Development) (11.36), in reply: I thank members for their support of this bill. All Australians expect that the sport they watch or participate in is played honestly and to the ideals of fair play and good sportsmanship. However, the growth of sports betting in the Australian wagering market has led to increasing risks to the integrity of sport from people seeking to profit from the illegal manipulation of results.
Match fixing in sport is motivated by the opportunity for significant financial or personal gain. It is achieved through the manipulation of results. Sports betting agencies provide the opportunity for large sums of money to be gambled on these events with the prospect of a very high return. This provides strong incentives to influence the result of sporting events. Match fixing and the corruption that flows from it is not limited to professional or high-profile codes. Match fixing has occurred at the sub-elite level in smaller sports, in lower grade team competitions and even in individual events.
Governments, therefore, have a responsibility to take all reasonable measures to stamp out illegal or fraudulent betting. Fraudulent betting on sport and match fixing is an emerging and critical issue globally for sport, the betting industry, governments and community. Match fixing has the potential to undermine public confidence in the integrity of sport, sporting events and even the products offered by legitimate betting agencies. Left unchecked, this corruption will devalue the integrity of sport, and diminish the acceptability and effectiveness of sport as a tool to develop and support those values that we seek in our society.
These risks have been recognised nationally by attorneys-general and sports ministers as needing urgent attention. Minister Barr, as the Minister for Sport and Recreation, and I, together with our respective directorates, have worked closely to give effect to the national policy on match fixing in sport of 2011 and the agreement of attorneys-general on the issue.
We may not all be avid sport and racing gamblers, but many of us enjoy watching sport, whether it is our favourite local or national team or simply watching our kids run around on a local oval on a cold winter’s morning. Sports are important to the way many Australians—indeed, perhaps most Australians—see ourselves. Sport plays a significant role in social cohesion and in community health. Its significance to the community cannot be denied.
We rightly expect that sport is free from the interference of unlawful and unsavoury attempts to turn a quick profit. This expectation must sit together with well-regulated betting markets, markets appropriately regulated by government and supported by the self-regulation of national sporting bodies.
Criminal laws that serve as a deterrent and sanction for match-fixing behaviours are an important part of modern sport. I have previously said that the ACT legislation already includes criminal offences that address a number of aspects of the match-fixing behaviours that attorneys-general agreed should be addressed in state and territory law. The bill will make certain that all agreed match-fixing behaviours are criminal acts in the ACT.
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