The Australian Government’s new direction for sport ‘Australian Sport: The Pathway to Success’, released last month by the Minister for Sport Kate Ellis MP, is a whole of sport focussed vision delivering in three key areas:

• increasing the number of Australians participating in sport
• strengthening sporting pathways 
• striving for success.

The new approach will see Commonwealth and State and Territory governments working together to deliver a more cohesive and aligned sports system characterised by collaboration on core planning and program delivery and cooperation on national priorities. A key vehicle for this will be the first National Sport and Active Recreation Policy Framework which will help guide the development of sports policy across Australia.

In recognition of the significant leadership role played by the Australian Sports Commission (ASC), Australia’s peak national sport agency, the ASC  has been tasked with implementing ‘Australian Sport: The Pathway to Success’ and distributing funding.

Since the release of this new agenda, the ASC has commenced work with states and territories, national sporting organisations (NSOs) and other stakeholders around both high performance and participation planning and programs.

In this edition of Ausport Online we take a closer look at some of the key elements of ‘Australian Sport: The Pathway to Success’.

Additional funding

The new direction for sport will be boosted by $324.8 million in ongoing funding to the ASC over the next four years. This funding includes $195 million in new funding – the single biggest funding increase delivered to the ASC in its history.

Of this, an additional $71 million over four years will be used to support a broad range of initiatives aimed at building community sport by increasing opportunities to participate in sport and building the capacity and sustainability of sporting organisations.

The remaining $124 million will support strategies aimed at delivering excellence in sports performance and continued international success.

Priorities for Australian sport

Key initiatives announced as priorities for the coming years included:

• A Sport and Education strategy to bring a new focus on the delivery of quality physical education and sport in schools.
• Requiring national sporting organisations to have an increased focus on participation outcomes as part of their funding agreements with the Commission and boosting support for community clubs.
• Additional coaching and officiating training opportunities for up to 45,000 community coaches and officials, including subsidising training costs for 5,000 new community coaches and officials.
• Investing in the development pathway by doubling the Local Sporting Champions program, and boosting opportunities for up and coming athletes to compete in domestic competition.
• Doubling talent identification programs to support an additional 5,000  aspiring Australian athletes and expand the talent identification network.
• A national sports volunteering strategy requiring amongst other things Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holders to volunteer at local community sporting clubs or junior sport programs.
• Boosting funding to identify, attract, develop and retain our high performance coaches including support for incentive packages and professional development.
• Expanding funding to our high performance athletes to support their training and participation in international competition.
• Introducing new funding and measures to address the particular issues affecting women’s participation, advancement and leadership in sport.
• A national social inclusion and sport strategy to support the development of pathways to increase opportunities for all Australians in sport, particularly those who may be marginalized or disadvantaged.

The ASC recognises that this is both an exciting yet challenging time for Australian sport. We look forward to further engaging with all sectors of the sports system, government and the broader community as we come together to make a great sports system even better through the implementation of the Australian Government’s new direction.