AUSTRALIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Sven Burchartz and Jessica Bell, Kalus Kenny Intelex
surfer to win a longboard competition in Aus - tralia. After appearing in a Rip Curl advertise - ment for its “Meet the Local Heroes of West - ern Australia” campaign, controversy followed, highlighting the diverse opinions surrounding transgender participation in competitive sport. The controversy around Lowerson contin - ued following her rejection from competing in California’s Huntington Beach Longboard Pro despite Lowerson complying with the World Surf League’s recently introduced International Surf - ing Association’s Transgender Athletes Policy, which allows trans women competitors to com - pete in women’s events if they maintain a testos - terone level below a certain limit for 21 months. International bodies for various games, such as cricket, cycling, athletics, swimming and chess have all tightened their policies for trans partici - pation in sport in recent years. In 2024, World Netball (the game’s international governing body) announced that trans players would be banned from international competition with lim - ited exceptions, while national governing bod - ies are at liberty to modify the guidelines, or not apply them at all. Notably, shortly after the announcement, Netball Australia rejected World Netball’s decision, opt - ing not to change its policies on inclusion for the Australian competition. However, World Netball’s policy will still mean that trans players will not be able to be selected for the Australian Diamonds (Australia’s national netball team). AI in Sport The use of AI continues to grow in Australian sport, with AI being used to enhance athlete performance and improve fan engagement. For example, AI is increasingly being used by Swim - ming Australia, with its SPARTA2 Swimming
Analysis System. This was used at the Paris Olympics and Paralympics to track a swimmer’s stroke rate, stroke length and velocity to improve their performance. AI is also being used to create realistic train - ing environments for athletes in an attempt to minimise training injuries in sports where inju - ries are common, such as boxing and football. It is also being used to design individual training programmes for athletes rather than coaches or teams adopting a one-size-fits-all approach. As the use of AI in sport increases, so too does the need to ensure that AI is being used appro - priately and responsibly. The issue with AI is in the way in which it collects data – not all data AI collects is accurate. This led to the Australian Sports Commission hosting workshops in 2024 relating to the responsible use of AI in sport. This upward trend will no doubt continue in the coming years as the capabilities of AI continue to evolve. Consequently, it is widely anticipated that regulatory measures, and potentially nation - al legislation, will be implemented to ensure that sporting organisations (and organisations in gen - eral) are using AI appropriately and responsibly. Gambling Advertisements and Australian Sport After receiving significant attention in 2023 following the publication of the reports of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs (the “Commit- tee” ) into the harm caused by online gambling advertising, in late 2024 the Australian govern - ment opted to delay the introduction of any reform legislation to Parliament. Following extensive review by the Committee of Australia’s gambling laws, regulations and
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