Wasting money on sport? Australian government policy and the sport of powerlifting

Third, the IPF has a high rate of positive tests, in line with WADA finding a 4 per cent positive test rate for non-Olympic sports (including powerlifting) in 2012, compared to just 1.5 per cent for Olympic sports. During 2012, the IPF had a positive test result of 4.6 per cent for the total 2218 tests it conducted. This included a 7.2 per cent for elite lifters, involving 275 ICT and 57 OCT, and 4.1 per cent from the 1886 tests conducted by national IPF affiliates.

Fourth, in contrast to Australia, the IPF affiliates of the US, Great Britain and Canada get no government assistance for drug testing with members funding the cost, even though their annual membership costs are lower than for PA members.

Fifth, the ASC appears to have no interest in PA's failure to unite the sport or the various reasons why the sport remains divided, although the ASC has indicated that one of the reasons for PA losing direct funding from 2005-06 was low participation numbers and a low profile within the Australian community (Email from ASC 19 August 2013).

When I indicated complaints were being made about PA administration by members, as posted on Facebook, the ASC noted it 'is not a regulatory body' (Email from ASC 19 August 2013). After inquiring further, the ASC then stated that it 'would seek the complainant's permission before contacting the national sporting organisation about any alleged case' (Email from ASC 29 August 2013). However, I did not provide any information. I remained concerned about doing so given the ASC's previous breach of the Federal Privacy Act when a complaint made in 2001 was passed on to Wilks with the email used to substantiate many allegations by Wilks in a defamation case.

With other matters, there are many reasons why lifters choose to lift in other federations, despite Wilks declaring in 2010 that athletes choosing to be uninvolved in drug-tested competition have ensured their 'separation from the Australian and world sporting mainstream'. As suggested by the president of GPC Australia, Markos Markopoulos, whose federation reached 630 members as of February 2015 after starting out in 2012, having a say in the direction of the federation was a major reason why many lifters had joined GPC with its annual general meeting asking members to contribute and vote on all major decisions (Email from GPC 26 July 2013). I also joined GPC in January 2015 after weighing up the strength and weaknesses of different federations.

As it stands, section 62 of the PA constitution states that 'no Member has any right of inspection of any accounting or other records of the Company except as conferred by the Act or authorised by the Board or by a resolution passed at a general meeting'. This is despite the ASC stating that

In an organisation owned by members and which receives substantial public funding, both members and taxpayers have a right to know how the organisation spends its money and therefore to provide input into the effectiveness of expenditure. NSOs should therefore fully disclose administration expenses for the organisation on a gross basis before any allocation of such expenses across functional activities within the NSO. This should include full transparency on compensation and associated expenses of the top five staff members in the sport. This will enable stakeholders to understand the level of administration expenditure in the sport and the efficiency of the NSO in undertaking its operations'.

Sixth, despite the ASC encouraging best practice from its sporting organisations, PA lags behind other IPF national affiliates with regard to a number of measures with regard to transparency. PA's website has no information of minutes of general meetings or financial statements by May 2014 in contrast to IPF affiliates in the USA, GB and Canada.

With regard to membership numbers, which PA chooses not to disclose, the Canadian Powerlifting Union (CPU) indicates that membership increased each year from 556 in 2008 to reach 1309 in 2013, while USAPL's level rose from around 3400 in 2006 to near 4500 by 2011.

With regard to testing, the USAPL and the CPU discloses every test conducted, including the name of the individual and date.

Seventh, the ASC could learn from approaches for drug testing around the world, or why other strategies may prove more effective. For example, the CPU conducts an OCT Pool for up to 18 months after membership expiry in accordance with the Canadian Anti-Doping Program.

Anti Doping Denmark can also enter into anti-doping agreements with fitness centres and other organisations with legislation requiring Danish gyms to display a happy or grumpy smiley to indicate anti-doping compliance, although recent research of Internet forums indicates that Danes may be using up to 50 such venues with police not seeing them as a high priority.