The Appellant, a para-sport athlete (the Athlete), was not nominated by the Respondent, the National Sporting Organisation (NSO), to represent the Australian Team at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
Pursuant to the Paralympics Australia Nomination Appeals Policy, being Schedule 1 of the Paralympic Team Nomination, Selection and Appeals By-Law (By-Law), the appeal was referred to the National Sports Tribunal (NST) on 27 June 2024. The appeal was fast-tracked and dealt with on an urgent basis. There were three interested parties who had been nominated for selection by the Respondent for the 2024 Paralympic Games.
The Appellant appealed their non-selection on the grounds that the selection panel was improperly formed, the Nomination Team did not adhere to the Nomination Appeals Policy (NAP) by failing to resolve the dispute in good faith, and also stated the appeal was not submitted late as Paralympics Australia (PA) was not officially notified of the nomination as required by the NAP.
Whilst the matter was initially agreed to allow the NST to determine the appeal on the papers, an urgent hearing was scheduled and heard by a sole Member in the NST General Division on 1 July 2024.
The Appellant submitted that the panel was improperly constituted and failed to consider discretionary factors when making their decision. They also stated that international performance, past selection and world rankings should have been given more consideration and that the NSO did not provide adequate reasons for non-selection before the appeal was lodged.
In response, the NSO submitted that the Selection Panel's composition is not strictly defined. The Panel has discretion in assessing the criteria, and no extenuating circumstances or bias were found. The Nomination Criteria were clear, and the appellant did not meet same, with other higher-ranked combinations filling available places.
On 2 July 2024, the NST Member delivered their determination. They considered all the written material submitted by the parties and the further submissions made during the hearing held on 1 July 2024. The NST Member determined there was no "actual bias" and there is no obligation placed upon the Panel to provide reasons for non-nomination of a combination or athlete.
The NST Member considered that the grounds of appeal in the Application have not been substantiated. Therefore, the appeal was dismissed.