Athletics Australia (AA) has committed to increasing its integrity efforts through the adoption of Sport Integrity Australia’s (SIA) National Integrity Framework.
The National Integrity Framework, launched in March 2021, is a suite of policies, developed by SIA to protect all participants in sport and to assist in dealing with important issues of abuse, harassment, misuse of drugs and medicines plus other safeguarding issues across Australian sport.
Athletics Australia collectively represents approximately 38,000 individuals including athletes, coaches, officials and volunteers, and its objective in adopting the Framework is to build a more collaborative, well governed sport that looks after the safety of its participants. The suite of policies will assist AA and its Member Associations achieve this.
“Adopting Sport Integrity Australia’s National Integrity Framework is a significant priority for Athletics Australia in operating as a best practise NSO,” said Athletics Australia CEO Peter Bromley.
“It allows us to help better provide a safe, fair and transparent environment for all participants and will help improve how we manage, report and investigate prohibited conduct under the new policies.
“As an organisation, we need to be mindful of the inherent integrity risks in sport and as such, have we placed a focus on these risks, and we believe adopting the National Integrity Framework is key to mitigating such risks.”
A key change is the streamlining of how integrity complaints are managed. The National Integrity Framework contains a Complaints, Disputes and Discipline process, which will see specific complaints for matters that occur after July 1, 2022 handled independently and transparently through SIA.
The policies within the Framework include:
Athletics Australia will now commence work with its Member Associations to have the Framework implemented at a state and territory level.
For more information, or to view the policies, visit https://www.athletics.com.au/about/constitution-policies/
By Sascha Ryner, Athletics Australia
Posted: 13/7/2022