My life’s journey led me to Canberra as Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Sports Commission. If anyone would have said ten years ago I would have left ‘beautiful one day—perfect the next’ Queensland to live in the ACT, I would have questioned their sanity!

But I had a passion—a strong desire to ensure that sport continued to occupy a central position in Australian society. Sport is the source of health and enjoyment for millions who participate as players, coaches, officials, administrators and spectators — the vast majority of whom do so in a volunteer capacity.

As an industry, sport contributes significantly to the Australian economy. Within the Australian community sport also provides a strong and continuous thread through a diverse and widespread population. It is often described as a binding element in the social and cultural fabric of Australia.

While the Australian sports system is fundamentally sound, there were cracks emerging as we moved towards the 2000 Olympics. The ASC plays a central leadership role in the development and operation of the Australian sports system and if I were, in some way, to influence the future direction of sport, I needed to contribute to the Commission’s mission to ‘enrich the lives of all Australians through sport’. The last seven and half years has seen the Commission continue as a world leader in understanding and implementing programs to counter societal changes affecting many industries in Australia.

Societal change such as changing work patterns, two income families and one parent families means that traditional sport delivery structures may no longer appeal to, or coincide with the availability of, potential participants or their support networks. Generational change, increasing rates of obesity, declining motor skill development in children, the availability of funding, community support for traditional sport and technology and innovation are all impacting on traditional sport.

The last seven and a half years working with world-leading experts at the Australian Sports Commission, which includes the Australian Institute of Sport, has seen us challenge the traditional providers of the national sports system so that we remain competitive on the world scene and encourage young people to see sport as something enjoyable through which dreams can be achieved.

Recently I read a book relating to what makes a champion, and one of the contributors was the great Nelson Mandela. Mr Mandela reflected on the enormous achievements in human endeavour in the 20th century. He highlighted how advancements in science and technology in the last century progressed far more than all previous centuries combined — the achievements of reaching outer space and penetrating the smallest unit of matter; the advancement of communication and information technology that has seen geographic separation becomes increasingly irrelevant.

But Mr Mandela lamented that all these achievements had not resulted in any great advancement in combating inequality in the world. The close of last century saw greater distinction between powerful rich nations and poor and marginalised nations. He asked the question: ‘Shall this century provide champions of human dignity and quality to match in their success that of the great innovators in the field of science and technology’.

Through the professions you have chosen you have the ability to influence the lives of thousands of people to make your part of the world a better place than when you arrived.

Be brave, be bold, challenge and persevere, and always follow your dreams. You are the custodians for the next generation. Good luck and best wishes.