Australia has introduced federal legislation that would create new offences for match-fixing and related sporting corruption, with maximum penalties of 10 years in prison. The Criminal Code Amendment (National Sport Integrity Offences) Bill 2026 would cover corrupting a sporting event, inducing or soliciting corruption, and the improper handling of information about conduct that corrupts a sporting event and inside information.
The new bill turns that debate into a criminal law response aimed at competition manipulation, which officials say can damage sporting credibility, defraud the public and give transnational crime syndicates a foothold in money laundering, manipulating outcomes and targeting vulnerable participants in Australian domestic sporting codes.
In its 20 August statement, the Albanese government said the offences are meant to strengthen the integrity of Australian sport and give law enforcement agencies better tools to deal with conduct that occurs both in Australia and overseas. Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said there was no place in Australia for match-fixing or conduct that seeks to undermine sporting events, while Minister for Sport Anika Wells said the law would protect merit, effort and fairness.
The government also linked the bill to the Review of Australia’s Sports Integrity Arrangements and to the Council of Europe Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions, known as the Macolin Convention. Australia was the first non-European nation to sign the convention in 2019, and the government says the new offences are a crucial step towards ratification.
The convention was created in Switzerland in 2014 and is described in a parliamentary committee report as the only international agreement specifically aimed at stopping the manipulation of sports competitions. That report says countries are asked to work with sports bodies, betting operators and event organisers to prevent, detect and punish manipulation, and that ratifying states need laws against corruption and misuse of inside information.
The same report said Australia would need to update the Commonwealth Criminal Code Act 1995 to create National Sport Integrity Offences that complement existing state, territory and Commonwealth laws. Sport Integrity Australia says it is working with government on ratification and on a harmonised national approach to competition manipulation, while also serving as the domestic and international coordination point for sport integrity matters.
