An extensive review and update of the Tennis Australia National Policies has recently been completed to ensure the Policies meet all the necessary legislation and sport requirements.
Please review these new Policies to ensure you fully understand the changes. Please contact Darren Sahb, Tennis SA, should you have any questions.
Member Protection Policy (MPP)
> TA Member Protection Policy 2019
The major change to the MPP has been the re-working of the complaint management process. This has been amended to reflect best practice and the current operations of the TA integrity team. In summary, complaints are categorised as either ‘vexatious, baseless or trivial’, ‘minor’ or ‘serious’. The complaint management process differs for each complaint type (NB under the previous version of the MPP there was only one complaint management process and it applied to all complaints, regardless of the circumstances and seriousness of the complaint). This new process will provide Tennis Australia (and other ATOs that manage complaints) with more flexibility. It also gives greater clarity to complainants and respondents with respect to their rights and obligations under the MPP.
The tribunal hearing process in the MPP has also been updated. This updated process balances the need to deal with matters expediently, whilst still ensuring all parties are treated fairly and given an opportunity to present their case.
In order to gain a full appreciation of the changes made to the MPP, we encourage you to review the full outline of the changes made to the MPP.
Disciplinary Policy (DP)
Similar to the MPP, the key change to the DP has been the re-working of the complaint management process and tribunal hearing process. In that regard, the DP is now consistent with the MPP.
We have also clarified the ranking of each Tennis National Policy, in that if there is any inconsistency, the MPP takes precedence over the DP (and both the MPP and DP take precedence over the Social Media Policy).
We have also added new breaches of the DP, including a prohibition on misusing personal information and a failure to provide truthful information as part of the complaint management process.
In order to gain a full appreciation of the changes made to the DP, we encourage you to review the full outline of the changes made to the DP.
Social Media Policy
The Social Media Policy has been updated in line with advances and changes in technology, and the different ways people are now able to communicate via social media platforms. It is otherwise generally consistent with the previous version.
In addition, each of the MPP, the DP and the Social Medial Policy have been modernised and updated in terms of structure, format and style. They all now have the same “look and feel”.