We have also known this since day 1. A political smokescreen.
THE blackest day for Australian sport was actually a pathetic move by the Gillard Government to manipulate the news cycle for its own political ends, Prime Minister Tony Abbott says.
Mr Abbott today stepped up his criticism of the previous Labor governments response to claims of doping, game-fixing and links with organised crime within the countrys most popular sporting codes.
Im not saying everythings perfect when it comes to sport and performance-enhancing drugs, he told 2GB.
But far from being the blackest day for Australian sport, it was a black day for politics frankly, it was a black day for the Labor Party.
Realising it was in all sorts of trouble, the Government had chosen to tarnish the reputations of Australias sporting elite and use the Australian Crime Commission to do it for a short-term political distraction, he said.
It was a really silly, squalid, sordid thing for them to do ... its absolutely pathetic, he said.
The press conference also involved the chiefs of the major sporting codes, including the AFLs Andrew Demetriou.
Eighteen months later, a lot of decent people were still struggling to restore their reputations, the Prime Minister said.
Junior Labor ministers Kate Lundy and Jason Clare were flanked by sporting chiefs when they released the findings of an anti-doping investigation in February 2013.
Mr Clare called the findings shocking and said they would disgust Australian sports fans.
Richard Ings, former boss of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority, famously labelled it the blackest day in Australian sport.
Mr Clare warned authorities had mountains of information at their fingertips following 30 coercive hearings and a year-long investigation.
Dont underestimate how much we know, Mr Clare warned at the time.
And if you are involved in this, come forward before you get a knock at the door.
Justice John Middleton last week reserved his decision in a Federal Court case over whether ASADA and the AFLs investigation of club Essendon was lawful.
Essendon chairman Paul Little said he would seek federal government intervention to permanently halt any ASADA action against the club should the Federal Court rule in its favour.
ASADA has flagged restarting its investigation, into whether Essendon players took performance-enhancing drugs, should the court rule its earlier investigation was invalid.
Mr Little said he had spoken to the AFL about the impact the long-running investigation was having on the game.
We now need to find a way of making it go away, he said.
Link:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/bl...028297168?nk=d8391ad2036305f76b9d62b066d27853
