"The devil will be in the detail" of new legislation's impact on amateur combat sports in Canberra.
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So says the Liberals' spokesman for sport and recreation James Milligan after the Controlled Sports Act 2019 was passed by the ACT legislative assembly on Tuesday, to be in place from the end of August.
The Act is designed to recognise the evolution of combat sports with added regulations implementing recommendations from the coronial inquiry into the death of boxer David Browne in NSW in 2015.
Milligan feared the "heavy-handed tactics" would leave amateur sports to suffer in Canberra, then flee across the border to hold tournaments and develop athletes in NSW.
Judo could be affected with Canberra's former Commonwealth Games competitor Duke Didier saying the sport "is already plagued with enough political problems internally without the ACT government getting involved and over-regulating the sport with unnecessary red tape".
But ACT Sport and Recreation Minister Yvette Berry says the Act will have a minor impact on amateurs, with added regulations to have a bigger bearing on commercial, ticketed events.
The Act defines events as registrable and non-registrable, with the former typically defined as "commercial, ticketed events", which will attract a host of added regulations.
The government plans to implement expanded safety and medical requirements, including annual medical screenings for contestants, pre-event medical screenings to ensure contestants are fit to compete, compulsory medical equipment at events and robust medical reporting requirements.
Contestants, officials and promoters will also be required to undergo an application and registration process including background checks.
Non-registrable events will largely capture participation-level sports where a controlled sports registrar will register a controlled sports body to oversee events, "meaning little to no impact on participants for example in beginner martial arts".
Milligan says concerned local sporting organisations will be forced to wait and see what kind of impact the Act will have on their business, but Berry maintains the new regulations are imperative.
"In recent years it has become clear that the Boxing Control Act 1993 no longer effectively regulates the full span of combat sports which are popular in both participation and commercial settings," Berry said.
"After extensive consultation and research over a number of years, passage of the Controlled Sports Act 2019 will bring the ACT into line with other regulating jurisdictions.
"The ACT government understands that in the wider community there are differing views on participation in combat sports.
"However, it is clear that our community wants to see combat sports effectively regulated to ensure the safety and wellbeing of participants, and to maintain the highest possible standards in the industry."
Some of Milligan's key amendments were agreed to which he hopes will soften the impact of the bill, which will now exclude training-related activities from the bill so there is no requirement to register those activities.
The Liberals have also asked the government to include a process to give contestants, officials and promoters a statement of reasons if there is a decision not to allow someone to register to compete or participate, which allows parties to collect evidence and appeal to the decision maker, without the need to go to ACAT.
Milligan will wait and see the legislation's impact on professional aspects of combat sports, concerned some added regulations will drive events away and make it harder for people to compete.
