What is a Membership Protection Information Officer (MPIO)?

All underwater rugby clubs in Australia, the UWRA and the AUF have a responsibility to protect their members from discrimination, harrassment, abuse and other inappropriate behaviours.

Sport Integrity Australia have established the National Integrity Framework (NIF). The AUF have NIF documents specific to our underwater community available on their website. These NIF documents are relevant to underwater rugby as well, and can be found on the AUF website.

The Framework is a collection of policies setting out the expectations of all participants in sport. There are individual documents to address safeguarding children, member protection, competition manipulation and sports wagering, and the misuse of drugs and medicines. This includes complaints, disputes and discipline policy. The Framework is designed to provide better outcomes for sports and their members when disputes arise. More information on what the NIF is can be found on the Sport Integrity Australia website.

A membership protection information officer, or MPIO for short, is a guide for lodging disputes. The MPIO understands the NIF documents, and dispute resolution process for their club or the UWRA. They act as a support person for someone raising a grievance, and are able to step that person through the grievance process in a considerate and non-judgemental way. The MPIO will not be one of the committee members who assess the dispute.

UWRA MPIO Zoe De Vries secretary@uwra.org.au

Sydney Stingrays MPIO Lyle Taualai sydneyunderwaterrugby@gmail.com

Victoria Seadragons MPIO David Tuttleby victoriaseadragonsuwr@gmail.com