Sydney, Oct.6 : The Australian Government has announced a new drug policy for sport that it hopes will be adopted by all sporting bodies and will involve tests of 6000 illicit drugs a year.

Australian Arts and Sports Minister George Brandis and the Minister for illicit drug policy Christopher Pyne, jointly announced the initiative today, which will involve funding of 21 million Australian dollars for the next four years.

The policy will also include an amnesty during the implementation phase and will involve a graduated sanction system.

The first breach by a sportsman or woman will attract warnings, counselling and a suspended fine with the second breach attracting periods of being banned from the sport along with fines and a public naming.

Being caught a third time will mean that the sports person could be banned from the sport for a minimum period of eight years or life, depending on the gravity of the breach.

Senator Brandis and Pyne have been in talks with the various sporting codes over the past five months before delivering the policy.

"The Government wants to help athletes send the right messages as role models for our children. Protecting the physical and mental well-being of our athletes is central to this new initiative. Sporting codes will need to adopt testing regimes that apply sanctions to players after each positive test - this sends the message that drug use will not be tolerated,'' news.com.au quoted Pyne, as saying.

Pyne said the news this week that Sydney Olympic gold medal athlete Marion Jones had used steroids in the lead up to the 2000 event underlined the seriousness of the drugs issue. He also described the drug-related death of former West Coast Eagles player Chris Mainwaring as very tragic. (ANI)