Rod Kemp (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for the Arts and Sport) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Barnett for that very important question. Senator Barnett, I am very happy to acknowledge your longstanding interest in sport and the arts as well—which might come as a surprise to a few people. Senator, your question is greatly appreciated. The Treasurer’s announcements in the budget on Tuesday were very widely welcomed by the arts community and the sports community. We were able to provide significant additional sums of money for arts and sports programs. I will outline some of the very important initiatives that the government undertook. Most senators would have heard from the sports community the great pleasure they had at noting that this year’s budget committed an extra $55.7 million over four years to high-performance sport.