Change is coming: Robertson

A new, independent sporting integrity body is to be established as part of the government’s response to the raft of alarming findings from successive reviews into the country’s elite sporting environments.

Only hours after the findings of an inquiry into Cycling NZ on Monday, the minister for sport and recreation Grant Robertson declared ‘‘change is coming’’.

Stuff understands that change will come in the form of an overhaul of New Zealand’s sports integrity framework with the establishment of a new Crown entity to respond to athlete welfare issues.

Along with the power to investigate athlete welfare complaints, it is understood the new agency will also oversee athlete safeguarding and child protection issues, along with match-fixing and anti-doping investigations.

Multiple sources have confirmed to Stuff that as part of the changes, Drug Free Sport NZ’s operations will be folded into the new integrity body. Such a move would not only require significant legislative changes to the Sports Anti-Doping Act, but new laws granting the organisation investigative powers.

In a statement released to Stuff, Robertson said ‘‘enhancing the integrity of our sports systems’’ is a priority for him as minister.

He added over the past 18 months an integrity working group, headed by Don Mackinnon, has been working to ‘‘explore the most appropriate structure to achieve this’’.

‘‘The [IWG] report is currently with the board of Sport NZ and will ultimately be considered by Cabinet, and I won’t pre-empt that process,’’ Robertson said. Sport NZ chief executive Raelene Castle reiterated the minister’s comments, stating the organisation was currently weighing up the report presented by the working group. However, last week Sport NZ began recruiting for the role of integrity transition director, posting an advertisement on its website.

‘‘The Minister and Sport NZ, wish to further progress the structural reform of existing sport and recreation integrity functions and institutional arrangements,’’ the job advertisement reads.

The establishment of the working group followed two sector wide reviews – Stephen Cottrell’s 2018 ‘‘stocktake’’ of integrity measures, and a 2020 feasibility study for a new complaints resolution service, headed by Phillipa Muir.

It is understood that the integrity working group last month presented two options to the board, one being the establishment of a new, independent sport integrity body, the other more of a ‘‘status quo’’ arrangement, but extending the powers of the Sport and Recreation Complaints and Mediation Service (SRCMS).

It is believed the searching questions the death of elite cyclist Olivia Podmore has posed of New Zealand’s high performance sporting environments, and the lack of trust expressed by athletes of the current systems in place, may have swayed the board into adopting the more drastic option.

Leading voices in the athlete welfare space have long pushed for the establishment of an independent sports integrity watchdog, with a series of reviews into troubled sporting environments over the past four years all identifying major gaps in Sport NZ’s risk escalation procedures and complaints mechanisms.

Among those in the sector there is an overwhelming sense of grief that it took the tragedy to convince sports leaders that a major overhaul was needed.

Sports integrity experts say any new entity will require significant government investment and resource to get a new body up and running.

An announcement on the new sports integrity body is expected early next month.