The country is looking to take a hard line on corruption in the wake of some high profile scandals, such as last year's spot fixing affair with the Pakistani cricket team.

Arbib said: "We want to make sure that we do everything possible to send a message to those people who want to be involved in match-fixing that there will be jail time, and it won't be a light punishment.

"What we're doing now is we're focused on people who intend to manipulate sport for profit through illegal activities.

"We're looking at uniform sentences across the country.

"We're also looking at codes of conduct that get implemented across sports so players, coaches, officials understand what is right, and what is wrong."

Australia itself has been comparatively free of corruption in recent times but sports gambling is growing rapidly in the country.

This has led to calls from the Coalition of Major Professional and Participation Sports, an umbrella body representing key sports such as cricket, rugby and football, for new laws to tackle the issue.

The Australian Olympic Committee has been particularly active in lobbying the Government to create a betting authority tasked with investigating fraud.

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