EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Defence Act 1903
Issued by the Authority of the Chief of the Defence Force
Determination of Prohibited Substances
Recent amendments to Part VIIIA of the Defence Act 1903 (the Act) provided for a more comprehensive regime for the drug testing of the Australian Defence Force. The amendments expanded the range of substances that may be tested for, broadened the circumstances when testing could be required and the types of testing that can be used.
The new subsection 93B(1) of the Act provides for the Chief of the Defence Force to determine that a substance, or a substance included in a class of substances is a prohibited substance for the purposes of Part VIIIA of the Act. Subsection 98(2) of the Act provides that a positive test result for a prohibited substance is to be disregarded where the result is attributable to therapeutic use in accordance with the directions or recommendations of a legally qualified medical practitioner.
The Act already provides for testing members of the ADF in respect of narcotic substance use. The purpose of the Determination is for the Chief of the Defence Force to expand the types of substances for which members of the ADF may be tested.
The Schedule to the Determination lists five classes of substances as being prohibited substances and seeks to describe four of them by reference to The 2005 Prohibited List, International Standard. This list is found in The World Anti-Doping Code, which came into effect on 1 January 2005. These four classes of prohibited substances are:
- Anabolic agents (including anabolic steroids such as DHEA);
- Hormones and related substances (for example, erythropoietin (EPO), growth hormone (hGH), insulin and insulin-like Growth Factor (IGF-1));
- Beta-2 agonists (for example, bambuterol, fenoterol and reproterol); and
- Diuretics and other masking agents (for example, alpha-reductase inhibitors, epitestosterone, etacrynic acid and plasma expanders).
The fifth class of prohibited substances is Benzodiazepines, which include substances such as valium, temazepam, diazepam, normicin, rohypnol and serepax.
This Determination is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003. The Determination commenced the day after registration on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.