The government's position will be to use the anti-doping agency that we already fund, or do it yourself. Can you seriously imagine an incumbent government trying to get a bill through the houses that will effectively double expenditure on ASADA because the biggest league in the country doesn't wish to work with them anymore? Would be an absolute nightmare to try and achieve that with all the talk of government waste going on at the moment. As a taxpayer I'd certainly be opposed to it. This stuff will be behind essendon in a few years and I have no intentions of living with the legacy.
Illicit drug testing is a criminal matter, PEDs are a matter of ethics. One is handled by the legal system, the other is handled by a quasi-legal body. I don't think we should be putting them together. PEDs don't belong in front of magistrates, criminal matters don't belong in front of ASADA.
If you think the AFL can fund this by themselves, where is the money going to come from? Can all clubs equally afford to fund it? Will there be a fight over who has to pay more? Will ticket prices be affected? TV deals? What's your business case? ASADA costs us about $15 million a year, can the AFL even find $5 million a year and can we afford to set it up?