Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

NATIONAL SPORTS TRIBUNAL ACT 2019 - SECT 24

  (1)   If:

  (a)   a dispute arises between 2 or more persons bound by one or more constituent documents by which a sporting body is constituted or according to which a sporting body operates; and

  (b)   either:

  (i)   one or more of those documents permit the dispute to be heard in the General Division of the National Sports Tribunal; or

  (ii)   if none of those documents permits the dispute to be heard in the General Division of the National Sports Tribunal--those persons agree in writing to refer the dispute to the General Division of the National Sports Tribunal; and

  (c)   either:

  (i)   the dispute is of a kind prescribed by the rules for the purposes of this subparagraph; or

  (ii)   the dispute is approved by the CEO, in writing, as a dispute to which this section applies;

the sporting body may apply to the National Sports Tribunal for arbitration of the dispute.

Note:   See Division   7 for how applications are to be made.

Parties to arbitration

  (2)   The parties to the arbitration are:

  (a)   the 2 or more persons; and

  (b)   the sporting body; and

  (c)   any other person or body:

  (i)   that is permitted by any of the constituent documents to participate in a hearing of a dispute of that kind; and

  (ii)   that advises the National Sports Tribunal in writing that the person or body wishes to be a party to the arbitration.

Arbitration to be conducted in General Division

  (3)   The arbitration is to be conducted in the General Division of the National Sports Tribunal.

Note:   See Divisions   4, 8 and 9 for rules about the arbitration.

Limits on CEO's power

  (4)   For the purposes of subparagraph   ( 1)(c)(ii), the CEO must not approve a dispute of a kind prescribed by the rules for the purposes of this subsection.

  (5)   The CEO may give an approval under subparagraph   ( 1)(c)(ii) only if the CEO is satisfied that there are exceptional circumstances justifying the giving of the approval.

  (6)   Without limiting subsection   ( 5), exceptional circumstances for the purposes of that subsection include the following:

  (a)   the CEO is satisfied that the dispute has been in existence for a protracted period of time, the parties to the dispute have made reasonable efforts to resolve the dispute and the dispute will not be resolved in the reasonably foreseeable future;

  (b)   the outcome of the dispute may set a precedent for dealing with similar disputes that may arise in the future.

Approval not a legislative instrument

  (7)   An approval under subparagraph   ( 1)(c)(ii) is not a legislative instrument.