August 2026
Recommendations
The current system asks athletes to raise serious complaints with the same organisation the complaint is about, and offers no independent body with the power, or the mandate, to intervene. We recommend three reforms to close that gap.
1. Legislate a National Safeguarding in Sports Act
A dedicated Act is the only way to make safeguarding in sport enforceable rather than voluntary. We recommend it establish:
• An independent reporting and investigation mechanism with the power to investigate sporting organisations directly, bypassing the federation a complaint is against
• A national register tracking abuse and misconduct patterns across sports, so a person or a pattern of failure cannot move between organisations unseen
2. Call a Royal Commission into abuse and welfare failures in sport
The scale and repetition of failures across gymnastics, swimming, volleyball and boxing point to a systemic problem, not a series of isolated incidents. We call for a formal Royal Commission, with the power to compel evidence and examine both individual conduct and organisational failure across the sporting system.
3. Build permanent public accountability and survivor support
Reform has to outlast any single campaign or news cycle. We recommend two standing mechanisms:
• An annual State of Athlete Safety report card, publicly grading national sporting federations on safeguarding performance
• A peer support network for survivors, giving people who have been through the system structured support from others with lived experience
