Report on performance

Output 1.1 Deterrence Program

**Table 3:** Output 1.1 Performance measures
Output 1.1 - Deterrence Program
Measure	Result
Quality
Reduce the number of inadvertent anti-doping rule violations (ADRV)	An inadvertent ADRV is regarded as one involving a substance that is a specified substance under the World Anti-Doping Code Prohibited List (the Prohibited List notes that specified substances are 'particularly susceptible to unintentional anti-doping rule violations') or could have been the subject of a Therapeutic Use Exemption. During 2005-06 there were 12 inadvertent ADRVs; this had reduced to 9 inadvertent ADRVs during 2006-07.
Reduce the number of athletes who may be contemplating doping	In a 2004 survey of elite Australian athletes, 16 per cent of athletes competing at World Championship/Olympic level, and 17 per cent of athletes competing at National level, indicated that they would give consideration to using a banned performance enhancing substance. In the May 2007 survey, the proportion of athletes who would contemplate using a banned performance enhancing substance had reduced to 8 per cent of World/Olympic athletes and 6 per cent of National athletes.
Full compliance with national and international responsibilities relating to the World Anti-Doping Code and other anti-doping agreements	All Deterrence activities and publications, including legislative amendments to the National Anti-Doping Scheme and the anti-doping policy template issued to all Australian National Sporting Organisations (NSO), complied with the Code and other relevant agreements. During the year, 95 NSOs signed letters accepting the jurisdiction of ASADA in anti-doping matters. With these letters of referral in place, all recognised NSOs are fully compliant with respect to their anti-doping policy obligations under the ASADA legislation.
Quantity
Eighty per cent of clients are satisfied with ASADA's delivery of stakeholder values	During 2006-07 ASADA sought detailed feedback on satisfaction with ASADA's delivery of stakeholder values from a number of key ASADA clients. On behalf of the Minister, staff of the Office of the Minister for the Arts and Sport indicated a high level of satisfaction. The Australian Sports Commission, the Australian Olympic Committee and the Australian Paralympic Committee also indicated that they were satisfied with ASADA's delivery of stakeholder values to them. In a May 2007 survey of elite Australian athletes, on a seven point level of satisfaction scale, 78 per cent of athletes competing at World Championship/Olympic level, and 76 per cent of athletes competing at a National level, responded with the highest levels (between one and three) of satisfaction with ASADA's efforts in delivering the stakeholder value of helping athletes demonstrate pure performance in sport free from doping. Only 7 per cent and 9 per cent respectively indicated they were not satisfied. ASADA also surveyed NSOs for the satisfaction of ASADA's delivery of the stakeholder value of helping them to protect the integrity of their sport by driving Pure Performance. NSOs were asked to incorporate the views of athlete support personnel wherever possible. Of the NSOs who expressed a clear ±œSatisfied/Unsatisfied± view, 80.6 per cent were satisfied.
Capacity to field 5,000 hotline calls	During 2006-07, ASADA outsourced its Athlete Hotline service. The outsourced service has the capacity to field 24,000 calls per year.
Sixty per cent of athletes use the ASADA website as preferred source for athlete information	In a May 2007 survey of elite Australian athletes, on a seven point ±œmost preferred - least preferred± scale, 64 per cent of athletes competing at World Championship/Olympic level and 73 per cent of athletes competing at a National level gave a ±œmost preferred± (one to three) rating for the ASADA website as a source of information about performance enhancing substances in sport.

Deterrence

In 2006-07 a number of key programs were directed at deterring athletes and support personnel from using prohibited doping practices in sport.

Deterrence strategies included:

providing anti-doping information and education resources to ensure athletes and support personnel are aware of the anti-doping rules of their sport and information
on prohibited substances
implementing new deterrence strategies, such as the 'Tank' (a cold storage facility for keeping samples for up to eight years, described later in this chapter), and
working with sporting administration bodies to help them implement anti-doping policies that are compliant with the Code and the ASADA legislation.

Education and communication

National Anti-Doping Education program

ASADA's 2006-07 Education Service Charter was an integral part of ASADA's Deterrence strategies. The charter was a core element in deterring athletes and support personnel from engaging in prohibited doping practices.

The 2006-07 Education Service Charter aimed to provide anti-doping information and services to athletes, sporting administration bodies and athlete support personnel so as to:

reduce the overall number of athletes who contemplate engaging in prohibited doping practices, and
reduce the overall number of athletes who inadvertently engage in prohibited doping practices.

ASADA's Education Service Charter for 2006-07 detailed for sporting administration bodies the level of education service ASADA gives athletes. The charter also outlined education strategies NSOs could implement to ensure their athletes and support personnel were properly informed.

Education products and services

Ninety-six per cent of ASADA's stakeholders were satisfied with ASADA's education products and services.

Stakeholder surveys were conducted face-to-face during education sessions and DVD presentations, as well as being sent via post and email to NSOs.

During 2006-07, education and publications were internally reviewed, updated and republished, to ensure stakeholders had the most accurate and up-to-date information available to them.

Core education products and services delivered in 2006-07 included:

2006 anti-doping athlete handbook
2007 anti-doping athlete handbook
Pure Performance in sport DVD
ASADA anti-doping hotline
ASADA wallet card
ASADA doping control guide
ASADA anti-doping presentations, and
ASADA website.

Presentations

We reached the performance measure for face-to-face presentations as outlined in the 2006-07 ASADA Education Service Charter. We gave 76 presentations to elite level athletes and support personnel, which were attended by 2,963 athletes and support personnel.

In addition to face-to-face presentations, the anti-doping DVD has enabled anti-doping presentations to be provided to athletes and support personnel participating in all levels of sport. A total of 85 DVD education sessions were delivered by sporting administration bodies to their members, attended by 2,276 athletes and support personnel.

During 2006-07 ASADA conducted presentations to sporting administration bodies on the increased powers of ASADA and the introduction of the National Anti-Doping scheme (NAD scheme). These presentations were held in each state and in the ACT. In October 2006 we gave additional presentations to sporting administration bodies in Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne on how ASADA's increased roles and responsibilities will affect the sporting administration bodies, athletes, support personnel, and the new online Athlete Whereabouts System.

Website

Steady improvements were made to our website in 2006-07, including new and revised content, as well as an extended site architecture, following the previous redevelopment that coincided with the launch of ASADA in March 2006. Other improvements to the website included:

the launch of the Athlete Whereabouts Online System in February 2007
(explained later in this chapter)
improved web standards and accessibility compliance, and
improved (and optimised) search engine visibility and content discovery, resulting
in a rapidly expanding audience with increasing visitor loyalty.

The ASADA website has performed well against benchmarks established by the Australian Government (as verified in a survey of 105 government websites by the Web Standards Group conducted in December 2006) in that it has:

a 100 per cent rating for home page accessibility compliance - one of only six government website home pages surveyed to achieve triple-A level conformance with the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 1.0
a 100 per cent rating for site-wide keyword integrity, indicating no use of duplicate keywords across the site
a 54 per cent rating for upstream traffic received from search engines - the highest of all government websites surveyed, and
a 27.5 per cent rating for upstream traffic received from the Google search engine, indicating a good spread of site visibility across various search engines.

Our website has continued to receive positive responses from its audience. In 2006-07, there has been:

a 33.7 per cent increase in total unique visitor sessions - currently a total of 201,050 unique visitor sessions, up from 150,327 for the previous year
a 22.6 per cent increase in total unique page views - currently a total of 764,147 unique page views, up from 623,205 for the previous year
a 20.3 per cent increase in average unique visitor sessions per day - currently an average of 550.79 unique visitor sessions per day, up from 457.80 for the previous year, and
a 9.6 per cent increase in average repeat visitor sessions per day - currently an average of 133.81 repeat visitor sessions per day, up from 122.10 for the previous year.

In a survey of elite Australian athletes conducted in May 2007, the vast majority
of athletes (64 per cent of athletes at Olympic/world level and 73 per cent of athletes
at national level) gave a 'most preferred' rating for the ASADA website as a source
of information about performance enhancing substances in sport.

The specifications for the Online Medications Database were scoped in 2005-06 but the project was held over into 2007-08 to allow more detailed development planning to be undertaken. We expect this database to become operational in 2007-08, making it easier for athletes to check the status of medications in their sport.

Anti-doping hotline

The anti-doping hotline service expanded in 2006-07. The service is available from 8am to 8pm, 7 days a week to:

provide sport-specific information to athletes and support personnel about the status of medications and substances in sport
order ASADA publications
provide general anti-doping information
offer an avenue for athletes to keep their whereabouts information current, and
give Doping Control Officers (DCO) out in the field up-to-date information about athlete whereabouts.

For the period January to June 2007, the outsourced service received a total of 1,926 individual calls.

THE ANTI-DOPING HOTLINE PROVIDES A USEFUL SERVICE TO members of the sporting community

Media

There was significant media interest in ASADA and anti-doping matters in general throughout 2006-07. We used media organisations to enhance public awareness of our work, and we continue to build on our reputation as a driving force for Pure Performance in sport.

As a key element of our deterrence strategy, during 2006-07 ASADA's proactive media activities focused on:

detailing the results of ASADA's inquiry into the sport of weightlifting
the launch of the Tank, a cold storage facility for keeping samples for up to eight years
ASADA's increased powers of investigation
the FINA World Swimming Championships held in Melbourne in March 2007, and
the lessons for athletes and support personnel from a range of individual anti-doping rule violations.

To communicate widely our message of Pure Performance we:

issued 30 media releases and statements
processed over 450 media enquiries
conducted over 100 interviews
held a successful media symposium on 18 December 2006, and
participated in the SBS program Insight about doping in sport.

Working with sporting administration bodies

ASADA collaborates with sporting administration bodies to help them fulfil their anti-doping obligations and responsibilities under the Code and the ASADA legislation.

So that we could exercise our own powers and functions effectively across the Australian sporting sector, we worked closely with all sporting administration bodies to obtain formal undertakings accepting our anti-doping jurisdiction. By the end of 2006-07, ASADA had received undertakings from all NSOs.

Since 2005 all Australian NSOs have had in place anti-doping policies that are compliant with the Code. To help sports update their current policies to reflect the establishment of ASADA, in September 2006 we issued a new template for sport anti-doping policies. By 30 June 2007, 23 sporting administration bodies had updated their anti-doping policies. The remaining sporting administration bodies are able to rely on their pre-existing Code-compliant policies (in combination with their undertakings to us) until they are in a position to resource the preparation of an updated anti-doping policy. Another new template policy will be prepared and provided to sporting administration bodies following the update of the Code which is scheduled for November 2007.

In December 2006, we announced the results of the first phase of the anti-doping investigation into the sport of weightlifting. As an outcome of ASADA's investigation into Australian weightlifting, ASADA and the Australian Weightlifting Federation (AWF) have cooperated extensively in the implementation of an eight-point plan to protect the integrity of Australian weightlifting. As a result of the AWF's implementation of the plan:

1. Australian Weightlifting Federation (AWF) will help ASADA compile urine and blood profiles for Australian weightlifters in our Registered Testing Pool, as determined by ASADA.

2. Athlete Whereabouts information will be provided by weightlifters.

3. AWF will require that Australian weightlifters in the ASADA Registered Testing Pool seeking to use international training locations must seek prior AWF endorsement.

4. AWF will develop and observe selection criteria for the appointment of athlete support personnel in consultation with ASADA.

5. AWF will compile a register of athlete support personnel to meet our requirements and provide that information to us on request.

6. AWF will require all Australian weightlifters in the ASADA Registered Testing Pool - and registered athlete support personnel - to attend mandatory ASADA education sessions.

7. AWF will implement an education program to ensure Australian weightlifters in the ASADA Registered Testing Pool - and registered athlete support personnel - are aware of the risks associated with the use of nutritional supplements to ASADA's satisfaction.

8. AWF will refer matters of non-compliance with these measures to an ASADA-monitored AWF disciplinary body for action.

Key projects

National Anti-Doping scheme amendments

The ASADA Act provides that the ASADA Regulations must prescribe a scheme about:

a. the implementation of the General Anti-Doping Convention (the Council of Europe Anti-Doping Convention)

b. the implementation of the UNESCO (United Nations Education Science and Cultural Organisation) Anti-Doping Convention, and

c. ancillary or incidental matters.

Schedule one of the regulations prescribe the National Anti-Doping (NAD) scheme
in accordance with the ASADA Act. The NAD scheme provides a detailed framework
for the performance of the powers and functions of ASADA. In particular, it:

sets out anti-doping rules applicable to athletes and support personnel
sets out sporting administration body rules applicable to sporting administration bodies
authorises and requires ASADA to do certain things
sets out procedures governing the exercise of ASADA's powers, and
sets out certain rights of athletes.

Section 10 of the ASADA Act provides that ASADA may, by legislative instrument, amend the NAD scheme.

Following enactment of the inaugural NAD scheme in March 2006, we identified a number of amendments to provide greater clarity to ASADA's operation. These amendments consisted of either the inclusion of new clauses or the modification
or improvement of language to strengthen existing clauses within the NAD scheme. The amendments:

clarified that anti-doping rules under the NAD scheme can apply to matters arising before its commencement
clarified the definition of drug testing officials
corrected a number of drafting errors
ensured consistency with the Code when referring to prohibited substances, by including reference to metabolites or markers of these substances, and
addressed the disclosure of information arising from an ASADA investigation.

In accordance with Section 11 of the ASADA Act, before making an instrument amending the NAD scheme. ASADA published a draft of the instrument and invited submissions on the draft. No submissions were received and the legislative instrument amending the NAD scheme was registered with the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments and started on 14 September 2006.

ASADA will continue to work to ensure the NAD scheme is a robust framework for the performance of our functions. Further amendments to enhance our operations are foreseen for the 2007-08 year, particularly to take account of a new version of the Code.

Athlete Whereabouts program

We successfully launched our new Athlete Whereabouts program in February 2007
in preparation for the April to June 2007 quarter.

Under the Code, the ASADA Act, and the ASADA Regulations 2006, which contains the NAD scheme, athletes in ASADA's Registered Testing Pool (RTP) are required to provide complete, current and accurate Athlete Whereabouts information to enable them to be located for no-advance-notice and out-of-competition sample collection.

Accurate whereabouts information is core to an effective no-advance-notice and out-of-competition testing program, and the new whereabouts program will significantly enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of our anti-doping program. Under this program, we will be able to locate athletes for out-of-competition testing 365 days a year.

The program has involved the implementation of new and robust whereabouts policies and, for the first time, consequences have been introduced for athletes who do not comply with ASADA's whereabouts requirements.

It is an anti-doping rule violation (ADRV) if, in a period of 18 months, an athlete on the RTP records:

three failures to provide whereabouts information
three missed tests (that is, the athlete is not present at his or her nominated location when ASADA field staff are trying to collect a sample), or
three instances of any combination of the above.

The Athlete Whereabouts program consists of:

new policies that are supported by a comprehensive and detailed set of procedures that have been developed and integrated into ASADA operations, and
a new custom-built, state-of-the-art online system.

Key to the successful implementation of the new program has been the comprehensive communication and education strategy for athletes and sporting administration bodies. Education, communication and presentation materials were developed and workshops were held specifically to inform sporting administration bodies of their athletes' whereabouts obligations. An introductory information package was also sent to athletes and sporting administration bodies in January 2007.

Given the significant changes involved in our Athlete Whereabouts program, and the serious implications for athletes who fail to meet ASADA's requirements, an amnesty
was granted to athletes who failed to meet their Athlete Whereabouts requirements for
the April to June 2007 quarter.

Athletes and sporting administration bodies were advised of the amnesty and its cessation date of 14 June 2007. They were also informed that any athlete who fails to comply with ASADA's Athlete Whereabouts requirements from that date may have declarations made against them which could give rise to an anti-doping rule violation.

Athlete Whereabouts Online System

The Athlete Whereabouts Online System was designed to help athletes meet
their whereabouts requirements. It has become a key feature of our new Athlete Whereabouts program.

This system was specifically built to support, automate and streamline the complete end-to-end Athlete Whereabouts process, from the submission of information from athletes, to the planning of drug testing missions, through to the monitoring and management of whereabouts offences.

It is used by Doping Control Officers and ASADA staff as a tool in implementing our world-leading testing program. Sporting administration bodies also use the system to advise athletes of up-coming training camps and competitions.

the athlete whereabouts online system

Over 70 per cent of athletes required to submit Athlete Whereabouts information have adopted the online system. We continue to encourage athletes using the paper based system to use the online system.

In a survey of Australian athletes conducted in April 2007, of those athletes who had used the Athlete Whereabouts Online System, 83 per cent of Olympic/world level athletes and 72 per cent of National level athletes rated the system as a 'good idea'. In addition, 70 per cent of Olympic/world level athletes and 71 per cent of national level athletes rated the system as 'easy to use'.

The Tank

In collaboration with the National Measurement Institute, ASADA developed and implemented the Tank, a new, deep storage facility for freezing athletes' blood and
urine samples, based at the institute's laboratory in Sydney. The Tank was launched
on 30 March 2007, and samples have been stored since that date.

With the introduction of the Tank, selected samples collected by ASADA can be stored
for a period of up to eight years for potential re-testing using future analytical technology.

One of the main benefits of the Tank is that it removes the advantage from athletes who think they can escape detection by using currently undetectable methods of doping.

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