Sport Integrity Australia staff were privileged to have had separate visits this week from both the Dutch Minister for Sport, Conny Helder, and the newly-appointed Canadian Minister for Sport and Physical Activity, Carla Qualtrough.
Both Ministers were in Australia for the FIFA Women's World Cup and to meet with our Minister for Sport, Anika Wells.
The visits demonstrate the growing relationships between our countries, coming off the back of the Dutch visit in February and recent discussions on sport integrity issues with the Canadians.
Our previous face-to-face meetings with the Dutch had them share current sports policy in The Netherlands, how they're dealing with integrity issues and why they believe working with Australia is so important. While we've had discussions with our Canadian friends previously, it's the first time we've had a Canadian Government delegation visit Sport Integrity Australia since they set up the new Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner last year. They were particularly keen to take a closer look at the Sport Integrity Australia model to help determine their next steps.
Both countries are investigating ways to improve their response to integrity issues in sport and, given the journey we've been on over the past three years since we opened our doors in 2020, the agency is in a unique position to share our successes as well as the challenges which have provided valuable learning opportunities and have identified areas for improvement and growth.
"Sharing knowledge is not a one-way street," Mr Sharpe said. "Sport integrity threats don't stop at the border. It's important to learn and share from each other and that was the spirit of the conversations we had with both delegations this week.
"We're looking to learn from each other's best practices and collaborate as we all move forward in our commitment to protect the integrity of sport together, in all areas, for a truly international approach."
Both Minister Helder and Minister Qualtrough were impressed with the efforts of our staff to support their teams (in addition to the Matildas, of course).
