Safe sport is a right, not a privilege.
Athlete Rights Australia is an independent human rights organisation serving the sporting community. We assist children, parents and adult athletes after harm, and we work to put athlete safety into law.
THE PROBLEM
Australian sport has no consistent standard for athlete safety.
No national standard
Protections depend on which sport you play, which state you're in, and who happens to be in charge. There is no national floor, and no one whose job it is to check.
Reporting that fails
Athletes who raise concerns face delays, inconsistent decisions and processes that too often compound the original harm.
Gaps that expose children
Where regulation doesn't reach, children and young athletes carry the risk. The evidence has been in plain sight for years.
Adults left without cover
Children's safety is backed by law. Adult athletes get member protection policies — no equivalent legal scaffolding, and no redress scheme.
WHAT WE'RE CALLING FOR
A National Safeguarding in Sport Act
Australia needs Commonwealth legislation that sets a single, enforceable standard for athlete safety, reaching beyond the federally funded high-performance system to the community clubs where most Australians, and most Australian children, actually play.
The case isn't speculative. Dr Alison Quigley's doctoral research applies documentary analysis to Australia's safeguarding framework and maps precisely where it fails.
Policy gaps expose athletes to harm, directly through coaching practice and indirectly through reporting systems.
Regulatory coverage is incomplete, leaving whole categories of participant unprotected.
Investigation processes frequently fall short of trauma-informed standards.
Poor institutional response compounds harm, recognised in the literature as systems abuse.
A minimum standard, and a national Act.
We supported the parliamentary petition led by the Centre for Ending Harm in Sport, calling on Parliament to legislate a minimum enforceable standard for athlete welfare in federally funded sports organisations. That reform addresses a real and urgent gap.
A National Safeguarding in Sport Act is a distinct and complementary shift. It would extend protection beyond the federally funded system to the community clubs where most Australian children actually play.
We advocate for both, and we are careful not to conflate them.