George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Minister for the Arts and Sport) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Bernardi for his question. In passing, I note his own very distinguished, and indeed famous, contribution to Australian sport, in the sport of rowing.

Today, 8 August, marks one year until the commencement of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. There will be few Australians who do not feel a growing sense of pride and anticipation in the lead-up to the games as our elite athletes finalise what for some of them has been a lifetime of preparation.

I am pleased to say that the Howard government feels that pride, and we are playing our part in helping Australia’s elite athletes to take on the world in Beijing. The first way we are doing this is through our support of the world’s best elite sports training facility, the Australian Institute of Sport. This financial year, the Howard government, through the Australian Sports Commission, will provide $27.7 million for AIS sports scholarship programs. That is an increase of over $13 million since the last Labor government.

To prove that the money is well spent, one need only look at the results of the 2004 Australian Olympic team. Of all the individual medals won by Australians, three-quarters were won by current or former AIS trained athletes. Of the 133 medals that the 2004 Australian Olympic team brought home, 100 were won by AIS trained athletes.

Our support for our Olympic team goes further than merely the AIS. In March, I announced funding of $2.9 million, shared between 16 Australian sports preparing for the Beijing Olympics, and that the Paralympics would share in that extra funding. With their share of the funding, we invested in boats specially designed to assist competitors to cope with race weather conditions in China, and our equestrian team used their funding for portable gear to monitor the health and condition of their horses. So the Australian government, through the Australian Sports Commission, has committed $14 million in direct athlete support through to 2008-09 as part of the Australian government’s sports training grants scheme. This direct financial support, distributed at arm’s length through the Australian Sports Commission, has helped our athletes to make the most of their training and competitive opportunities in the lead-up to Beijing.

Finally, while we are talking about our Olympic competitors, I should also mention that the coalition government has announced that it will provide $130,000 to help meet the costs of sending the Australian team to the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai. That decision brings total Howard government support for the Special Olympics in 2007-08 to $255,000.

We are a year away from Beijing, and I am sure all honourable senators wish our athletes well for the hard year of training ahead.