ASC organisation overview

Who we are

The ASC is a statutory authority within the Australian Government’s Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport portfolio. It was established in 1989 by the Australian Sports Commission Act 1989.

Our role

The Commission is focused on getting more Australians to participate and excel in sport. To achieve this, we:

• deliver key programs in line with the Australian Government’s sport policy objectives
• provide financial support and other assistance to national sporting organisations to deliver participation and high performance results and improve their capability, sustainability and effectiveness
• build collaboration, alignment and effectiveness within the Australian sport sector.

Our structure

During 2011-12 the ASC realigned its organisational structure to enable it to best fulfil the role required of it by the Australian Government and by the Australian sport sector. The organisation is now structured into three divisions, as represented diagrammatically below.

The role of each of the divisions is outlined below.

The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) has primary responsibility for leading the strategic direction of high performance sport in Australia. The AIS has three key roles:

• providing strategic leadership and direction of high performance sport (including capability building and the delivery of national programs)
• delivery of world-class athlete preparation (including coaching, sports science and sports medicine, program management, vocational/pastoral care and competition opportunities) 
• fostering a national approach to applied performance research.

The Sports Development is focused on planning, funding, supporting and servicing relationships with national sporting organisations to assist in the implementation of whole-of-sport plans and to develop the sports’ capability and capacity. The Sports Development Division manages and coordinates funding arrangements and compliance with sector partners funded through the ASC. It also coordinates the European Training Centre for use by all Australian high performance athletes and national sporting organisations.

The role of the Corporate Operations is to provide business capability and services to support all divisions of the ASC to enable it to deliver on its strategic plan. Key areas of focus include:

• human resource capabilities
• information technology capabilities
• sound financial and asset management practices
• managing the ASC’s responsibilities within the compliance framework
• providing high quality facilities and services.