Cycling Australia review calls for ethics and integrity panel

The Federal Government-ordered investigation into Cycling Australia has called for more extensive doping testing in the wake of several high-profile resignations that rocked the organisation last year.

The 95-page review, headed by former New South Wales Supreme Court judge James Wood, has also recommended there be new requirements on some senior staff, coaches and athletes to sign declarations to say they have not been involved with performance-enhancing drugs.

Concerned about the integrity of cycling in Australia following the doping admission of national men's road coach Matt White and Cycling Australia Vice President Stephen Hodge, Federal Sport Minister Kate Lundy called for an independent audit of one of the most highly funded sports in Australia.

Hodge resigned from his position last year after admitting to being part of a team doping program during his professional riding career while the organisation sacked former Olympian White from his position with Cycling Australia for his role in the Lance Armstrong doping scandal.

The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) last year handed down a damning report into Armstrong's US Postal Service Pro Cycling team, saying it was involved in "the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping program that sport has ever seen".

Armstrong is due to give his first media interview this week since being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles last year.

With the scandal impacting Australian cycling, Senator Lundy asked Justice Wood to review Cycling Australia's anti-doping measures and governance arrangements in a bid to restore public confidence in the sport.

Receiving the report and its 16 recommendations, Senator Lundy described the suggestions as "constructive", adding "what I want to see is a sport that has its integrity fully restored. I think the public's confidence in cycling was shaken following the USADA revelations last year."

The report says that Cycling Australia's governance arrangements need to be updated, including the introduction of a new "declaration policy."

It adds "an important driver for this review was the fact that former athletes had been appointed to certain roles in the sport, without consideration of whether or not they had been involved in doping activity."

It has also said that anti-doping testing should be extended to state/territory events, as well as club and Masters level competitions, that are currently subject to either limited or no testing.

Justice Wood has suggested Cycling Australia consider how it can support whistleblowers who provide information on doping activities and to cover initiatives including:

• Building anti-doping accountability and networks
• Establishing an ethics and integrity panel
• Improving anti-doping education
• Developing stronger sanction regimes

Welcoming the report, Cycling Australia President Klaus Mueller told Fairfax Media "I think (the rport) gives us confidence about the future of the sport in Australia, and when read carefully I think it demonstrates that those who have investigated us carefully have seen that there is integrity in the program. And that many of the recommendations are consistent with the views that we've put forward and things that we've been doing."

20th October 2012 - LUNDY CALLS FOR CYCLING AUSTRALIA REVIEW

17th October 2012 - NEW PARTNERSHIP TO TACKLE DOPING IN SPORT