Top honours
The community spirit and dedication of a number of West Gippslanders was recognised in national and local Australia Day honours on Friday. A dairy industry leader from Yannathan and an expert on sports law from Allambee have been recognised in the Australia Day honours list. Noel Campbell, who played a leading role in dairy industry negotiations of Free Trade Agreements, was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO). Hayden Opie became a Member of the Order of Australia for his work in sports law as an academic and educator in Australia and overseas and for roles on integrity, anti-doping and appeals tribunals. Baw Baw Shire also named its top citizens and events for the year, with Judy Farmer of Drouin being named citizen of the year. Young citizen of the year was Jacob Bush while former councillor Debbie Brown and Matt Runnalls were both honoured with Australia Day medallions. Council also awarded a number of community awards including: community event of the year – Warragul Snowfest; community contribution (environmental) – Friends of Drouin’s Tress; and community contribution (cultural) – Baw Baw Arts Alliance. Drouin Fire Brigade captain John Atkins and Warragul paramedic Paul James were also were amongst the honours lists. In recognition of outstanding service to the community, John Atkins received the Australian Fire Service Medal (AFSM) and Paul James received the Ambulance Service Medal (ASM). Mr Atkins has served the community as a volunteer firefighter with the Drouin Fire Brigade for 50 years, including 33 years as captain. He previously served as lieutenant, is a life member and was instrumental in the establishing a new fire station in Sinclair St. Mr Atkins said he was very surprised to open up the letter and see he would be receiving such a prestigious award. “I never joined the fire brigade for the awards. My greatest achievement as a firefighter will always be saving people’s homes. It’s what I was trained to do, and continue to do. It’s why we’re here - for the people,” he said.
A career in sports law, an area in which “no-one seemed much interested” in the 1980s, has led to Allambee resident Hayden Opie being made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).
He was awarded the honour in the Australia Day list, a recognition that he said humbled him, “for significant service to education as an academic specialising in sport law and through roles with integrity, anti-doping and appeals tribunals” in Australia and internationally.
Mr Opie has been involved in some of Australia’s major sports issues in recent years as the Australian Court of Arbitration for Sport arbitrator, legal member of the Australian Sorts Anti-Doping Rule Violation Panel and as chairman of the Doping Control Tribunal for Athletics Australia.
He is also a member of the Court of Arbitration for Sport based in Switzerland.
Currently an honorary senior fellow with the Melbourne Law School’s sports law program Mr Opie has lectured at universities in Sydney, Adelaide and in the United States and is a member of the board of advisors to the National Sports Law Institute in the USA and of the Asian Law Centre.
He was the foundation president of the Australian and New Zealand Sports Law Association, a position he held for eight years and was awarded life membership in 2000 and has authored books and journal entries on sports law.
Although his work base is Melbourne and his roles involve plenty of overseas travel, Mr Opie describes himself as a “V/Line warrior” since moving to Allambee 10 years ago “because it is a beautiful spot”.
But travel and demands of his work aren’t issues in a career in which he says he has been “terribly fortunate” and one where he is “keen to go to work when he gets up of a morning”.
Mr Opie’s move into sports law and teaching after being admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria was more of an evolution than a focussed career aim.
A keen sportsman himself in his younger days he then became involved in junior sport coaching, umpiring and administration and with some sports disputes beginning to find their way to the courts wondered why there wasn’t a great deal of interest from legal practitioners in the field.
Restraint of trade (players being denied transfers to other clubs) surfaced in the courts and it was a time when sports primarily had their own disciplinary processes, he said.
“What you couldn’t do on the street could be done on a sports field. The whole field has since changed dramatically”.
Mr Opie says a lot of issues have “come in a rush”, the main driving forces being the money involved in sport today and human rights concerns.
However, he pointed out that sports lawyers were not the police of sports but in the “back room” training those that run sports and events.
Sports regulation must be “robust but not oppressive”.
“Penalties are only part of the story. What is most important is the culture within sport to tackle match-fixing, doping and integrity”.
Mr Opie says it is up to all involved – sponsors, administrators and participants – to make sport good; good for communities and good for nation building.