I agree that it's not an ASADA issue, but it's not simply a matter of PA's regulations. It's about ASC recognition.
The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) that gives recognition to sports governing bodies, not ASADA. The level of recognition PA has with the ASC means that the ASC (Commonwealth Government) funds all drug testing of PA by ASADA. This is all the government funding PA gets so it's crucial that this recognition is maintained.
It's the ASC that only recognises one body per sport not ASADA. This has been the situation for many years.
ASADA just do testing, and deal with sanctions etc when it detects doping. To be ASC recognised you need to have a WADA compliant anti-doping policy and have ASADA do the testing.
But there is nothing stopping ProRaw bringing in a WADA compliant anti-doping policy if it wanted and get ASADA to do the testing. ADFPA technically has such a policy but query how many tests they actually conduct each year, without ASC recognition and the funding to actually do testing. So, if you wanted an anti-doping policy that actually has some teeth and is actually enforced it would be prohibitively expensive. To do the amount of testing PA does, you'd probably need to spend over 100K a year. Only the AFLs of this world can pay for their own testing (and the AFL does this so they can get more tests done than the ASC would otherwise be able to conduct). PA is one of the good guys in the IPF from an anti-doping perspective, but it simply could not do this without ASC funding.
When I have enquired about this, and I'm happy to be corrected on details, this is all about ASC recognition, and the conditions upon which they fund anti-doping for PA. It doesn't come from ASADA, so you won't get an answer from them.
Because clean sport is one of the central goals of the ASC, it makes sense that the ASC has reservations about funding PA's anti-doping activities if its members then go and compete in non-ASC sanctioned events. The situation with ASC funding for powerlifting is much more delicate than other sports because of the history of drug abuse, and the well-documented drugs-in-sports senate inquiry. In order to maintain this funding, PA or its members cannot be seen to be in any way affiliated with a non-tested version of the sport.
So, why is weightlifting different? Well, the AWF is the only governing body for the sport. Weightlifters aren't going around competing in events organised by non-sanctioned
weightlifting federations, because there are none. There may be unsanctioned events going on, but the situation for them is much less delicate for them because there is no organised non-tested body regularly hosting national events or anything like that. Although to be honest I would be surprised if the ASC would not complain to AWF if it actually knew AWF lifters competed in CAPO powerlifting comps.
If PA lifters are competing in a sport which isn't powerlifting and doesn't look like powerlifting, eg traditional strongman (which the ASC has said it has no issue with), this does not risk PA's ASC recognition because the "funded" members aren't participating in a non-drug tested version of the sport.
The closest situation to powerlifting is boxing. Boxing has numerous amateur and professional federations as well as an IOC recognised version of the sport. Guess what, Boxing Australia Inc, the IOC affiliated fed which is recognised by the ASC, has the same requirement as PA regarding non-sanctioned events.
See clause 8 on page 8 of Boxing Australia's by laws:
http://www.boxingaustralia.org.au/documents/2009baibylawsamendedJuly2.pdf
The restriction extends to boxing-like bouts, specifically Toughman. I'm sure there would be lots of arguments about whether it would extend to other boxing-like sports (eg non-sanctioned kickboxing).
There is a separate issue with the PA regulations that PerthMac identified.
BTW, does the Arnold Classic (which the IPF is involved in) have drug testing for all involved sports (including bodybuilding).
If it does not, then this would be somewhat inconsistent with what is happening in Australia.
The Arnold Sports Festival includes sports that aren't drug tested, but the situation in the US is very different from Australia due to the way the ASC operates - as explained above.