Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare and Youth) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to highlight today that the government has delivered on its election commitment to support Australian junior athletes through the implementation of the Local Sporting Champions program. And in highlighting this important commitment, I would also like to take the opportunity to update the House on the progress of the program, which as its name suggests, is providing real support to help our next generation of Australian sporting champions to compete and to achieve.

Under Local Sporting Champions junior sportspeople from every corner of Australia are provided with financial assistance to help them pay the costs which are associated with their competition. Every Australian parent who regularly supports their kids to participate in the sports they love knows full well that families contribute more than their time, their enthusiasm and their cheerleading skills when it comes to junior sportspeople. The ever increasing cost associated with travel, fuel costs, accommodation, uniforms and equipment all add up—particularly for those families who do it tough.

That is why the government launched the Local Sporting Champions program last year—investing $6.4 million over four years to support thousands of junior athletes and hundreds of local junior sporting teams. The program is about helping out with the costs associated with junior sports competitions—giving a practical helping hand to up-and-coming sportspeople and their families with the added costs that sporting success can bring for young athletes and for the family budget. And, of course we recognise that these grants do not cover all of these costs but we do think that it is absolutely appropriate that the federal government provides some assistance and a helping hand along the way.

Open to every federal electorate, Local Sporting Champions provides local members with the opportunity to support young athletes within their communities to pursue and achieve their sporting dreams. Under the program eligible junior sportspeople can apply for grants of $500 for individuals and $3,000 for teams. To be eligible applicants need to be:

• aged between 12 and 18 years of age at the time of the nominated sporting competition;
• participating in an official national sporting organisation endorsed state or national sporting competition or national school sport competition; and
• required to travel greater than 250 kilometres.

But Local Sporting Champions is not only about supporting the development of pathways for our junior athletes, it is also central to the government’s belief that the benefits of sport and physical activity are critical to building a healthier nation. Active kids are healthy kids, and in helping junior athletes to compete Local Sporting Champions also helps break down the barriers that may prevent young people from participating in sport and physical activity.

I am a great believer that the health of our children is inextricably linked to community sport, and that is why we are an unapologetic partner with grassroots sport. Our commitment to community sport has also been demonstrated by the government’s recent $300 million investment in grassroots sport facilities as part of the economic stimulus package, the largest single investment in community sporting infrastructure in Australia’s history, supporting Australian jobs, supporting Australian communities and providing a boost to grassroots sport. What this all adds up to is more opportunities for young Australians to participate in sport, activity and to extend their skills through competition.

And on that note I am very pleased to inform the House today that through the Local Sporting Champions initiative, the government has supported a total of 847 individual junior sportspeople and 61 teams under just the first two rounds of this fantastic initiative. There are literally hundreds of stories from right across Australia where young Australian sportsmen and women have benefited from the Local Sporting Champions program and I wish to provide the House with just a few examples today.

From the electorate of Braddon an individual grant of $500 was awarded to Samantha Koch, a young cross-country runner. This funding assisted Samantha with the costs associated with her travel and accommodation to compete at the Australian Cross Country Championships in Geelong, Victoria.

From the electorate of Sydney, Elliot Brown, a young triathlete, received $500 to attend the Australian Triathlon Championships in Tasmania. I am pleased to say that with this grant through the Local Sporting Champions program, Elliot not only competed at the national championships but went on to win and subsequently has been selected to represent Australia at the world championships.

Each one of these stories not only represents the success of an individual—they also highlight the capacity of Local Sporting Champions to build important links between sport, local representatives and communities. And the fact that communities get the opportunity to support and to share in the journey of our junior athletes as they aspire to become the next Ian Thorpe, Adam Gilchrist or Liz Ellis is also a fantastic by-product of the program.

Helping to generate the attention and recognition that our local sporting champs deserve—acknowledging the dedication and commitment of our junior athletes and the support of their families—is what makes Local Sporting Champions so great. It is about real people and the very real commitment demonstrated by young athletes and their families.

I would like to assure the House that the government will continue to look for ways to support junior sport and to this effect I look forward to the report by the independent panel later this year, which will include a range of recommendations around strengthening the Australian sport system, including pathways from junior sport right through to elite sport.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all members from both sides of the House who have utilised this program to the full benefit for their electorate and also to those members who have provided feedback on the delivery of the Local Sporting Champions, which will assist in enhancing this already successful program. I encourage all members to continue to promote this program within their electorate—to continue to support junior athletes across Australia to participate in sporting competitions around the country because it is good for local athletes and their families and will help support the next generation of Australian sporting heroes.

I ask leave of the House to move a motion to enable the member for Boothby to speak for seven minutes.

Leave granted.

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent Dr Southcott speaking in reply to the ministerial statement for a period not exceeding seven minutes.

Question agreed to.

Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment Participation, Training and Sport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Local Sporting Champions program is one that the opposition has embraced and supported. Providing financial support to our up-and-coming sporting athletes who are required to travel long distances to compete in national sporting competitions is a worthy cause. An email I received from a successful recipient of a Local Sporting Champions grant in my electorate said:

I would just like to thank you for the local sporting champions grant. I really enjoyed competing in the National Downhill Championships in Canberra and your grant helped me greatly to get there. I came fourth in my U17 age group. I was pleased with my result, being my first national Champs.

Thanks again

Grant Womersley

It is important that governments, along with local communities, work to break down barriers that restrict participation in sporting activities. One of the main barriers to increasing participation in sporting activities is the cost. Buying sporting equipment such as uniforms and boots can be expensive, especially when a young person participates in more than one sporting activity. But for young people who are seeking to further their early careers by competing in national competitions, travel costs can be an additional burden that cannot be met. The Local Sporting Champions program seeks to alleviate this cost burden, which is why the opposition gives the government its support. In a great sporting nation such as Australia—a nation that dominates the cricket world, embraces four football codes, dominates the Commonwealth Games and matches it with the best at the summer Olympics and Paralympic Games—it should not be the case that a young athlete has to give up on their sporting goals because they cannot afford to attend national championships.

The coalition in government and in opposition has always strived to implement policies that improve participation among children and young adults. High levels of participation in community based sport are essential to maintaining a healthy, active society. Along with its obvious health benefits, it provides the opportunity for important social engagement and contact. The key to improving participation throughout a person’s life is to ensure they develop good motor skills at an early age. If a young person fails to develop good motor skills or forms a negative view of sporting activities or physical activity generally, that person is less likely to stay physically active and participate in community sport at a later age. This is why the former coalition government introduced the Active After-school Communities program, which is now providing sporting activities for 150,000 primary school students in after-school care.

The Australian Sports Commission recently stated that the Active After-school Communities program has led to increased participation in sporting club and community based sporting organisations. This program has succeeded in getting inactive kids up and moving. Almost 90 per cent of parents who responded to a survey conducted by the Australian Sports Commission said that their children were inactive prior to joining the program. The success of this program is helping address the issue of overweight and obese Australian children.

In addition, it was the former coalition government that put physical education back into primary schools, forcing state Labor governments to ensure their primary school students were provided with at least two hours of physical activity a week. I note that this Labor government has decided to remove this provision from the new funding agreement. The Minister for Education said, in response to a question on the Notice Paper:

Responsibility for physical education lies with individual jurisdictions and non-government education authorities.

Along with our support of the government’s Local Sporting Champions program, the opposition would welcome a move by the Minister for Sport to guarantee the Active After-school Communities program continues beyond 2010 and also to make sure our primary schools are offering an adequate level of physical education.

The Local Sporting Champions program is unique. It is one of only a few new sporting programs that this government has implemented since it has been in government. So far, things are either on hold or funding is just being rolled over in sport. Funding for the Australian Sports Commission has been frozen. With the international sporting arena becoming increasingly competitive as competitor countries such as Great Britain pour more resources into Olympic sports, our elite athletes are receiving nothing extra. They are being told to work with what they have.

Every time that this government is asked about what is happening in sport, the standard response of the government is that they are awaiting the results of the independent review. While the coalition supports the government’s review into sport led by David Crawford, the time it is taking to have this report completed is ridiculous. It is time that the government pulled sport off the holding pattern that it has been in since August last year and starts providing some direction for sport in Australia. Even if this report is completed and the government responds to the review by the end of the year, as it now says that it will, this would mean that it has taken the Rudd government two years to come up with a sports policy. While we commend the minister on the Local Sporting Champions program, she needs to get the ball rolling in other areas, because there is still a lot more to do.