Minister for Sport Mark Arbib today announced more than $11 million a year for national sporting organisations in new sport participation funding.

This record investment, through the Australian Sports Commission, of $44 million over four years will allow 29 sporting organisations to focus on increasing the numbers of Australians participating in sport.

The participation funding is part of the Australian Government’s record investment of $195 million in new funding through its new vision for sport Australian Sport: The Pathway to Success.

Minister for Sport Mark Arbib said the new investment was the single biggest injection in sports participation funding to sporting organisations in Australia’s sporting history.

“This additional funding will reinvigorate involvement in sport at a local community level and help tackle issues such as obesity and to help get Australians moving,” Senator Arbib said.

“It will enable sporting bodies to significantly boost their participation rates at a grassroots level, getting more families involved and building healthier, more active communities.”

The Commission was tasked with distributing the additional funding as part of the Australian sport reform package Australian Sport: The Pathway to Success.

The participation funding injections range from $50 000 to $750 000 per year, with the Australian Football League, Cricket Australia and Tennis Australia all receiving the highest allocations.

All national sporting organisations were invited to bid for the new participation funding to encourage participation in sport and active recreation from the community through to a high performance level.

Consistent with the focus on a more collaborative and effective sport system, the ASC engaged with state and territory departments of sport and recreation on the assessment criteria and funding allocations.

Funding will also be used by national sporting organisations to increase participation in Indigenous sport, sport for people with disability, sport for people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and women’s sport development programs.

“This new funding will enable Australian sporting organisations to lift sports participation numbers significantly at all levels, while ensuring Australia’s continued elite sporting success,” Senator Arbib said.

This new funding will support and complement the Government’s recent $43.5 million funding announcement to continue the Active After-school Communities program for 2011.