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  Issue No 45 Official Organ of LaborNet 10 March 2000  

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Sport

Kate Lundy on Sports Funding


'Shaping up'--the government's white paper into the future of Australian sport--is gathering dust, casting a shadow on the post-Olympic landscape.

 
 

The history of this white paper says a lot about a government ignorant of the problems facing elite sport and unable--or unwilling--to face the tough policy issues involved in sport and recreation. During the last federal election the coalition made a commitment to the Australian sporting community. According to their policy document. the coalition would: - commission a White Paper on sport and recreation post-2000, to lay the base for a comprehensive policy statement that addresses principles, defined policy goals and objectives.

Given that the post-Olympic landscape is so uncertain and there is a high level of anxiety among both Olympic and non-elite sporting organisations, an inquiry into our sporting future was not unjustified.

It was, in fact, in desperate need of occurring, in light of the coalition's mismanagement of the sports portfolio since they were elected. The opposition, however, was rightly concerned about the manner in which the Minister for Sport and Tourism, Jackie Kelly, established this review, and in hindsight our concerns have been justified 10 times over. In the first place when the white paper was announced there were already a number of inquiries into sport under way, including an Australian Sports Commission internal review and a National Elite Sports Council inquiry into the organisation and delivery of funding to elite sport after the 2000 Olympics.

Then it took the minister over seven months to find four task force members to conduct the white paper review, but she allowed just four months for them to report back. That is half the time it took her to come up with the task force members. The white paper task force, which the minister subsequently renamed the Oakely review, was late in getting their report completed--understandably, I believe, given the enormous task they faced in preparing such a major document. And indeed this document was supposed to come up with a plan for the future of Australian sport.

And didn't the minister talk up this white paper as a major government policy document. We heard more about the potential of this white paper to solve the government's policy dilemmas with sport than anything else. Here is just a sample of what Minister Kelly has said about the Shaping up white paper: it will lead to the `greatest change in the administration of Australian sport and recreation in recent history,'; it is `the most far reaching assessment of Australian sport in 20 years,'; and, it is `the most thorough look at sport and the sports industry in Australia in 25 years.' These are all quotes from Minister Kelly.

The white paper was eventually completed at a cost of over $270,000, an enormous amount of money considering sporting organisations are busy preparing to slash programs and services in the light of coalition funding cuts. Furthermore, the minister promised that the government would be officially responding to the white paper `in early 2000'. It is early 2000, and this white paper into the future of Australian sport is collecting dust on a shelf in Minister Kelly's office. It is a pretty expensive bookend at a total cost of $270,000.

During the last round of Senate estimates I tried to find out just when in `early 2000' the government would be producing their response and why the minister is refusing to address its controversial recommendations. It will not come as a big surprise to the sporting community--who did work extremely hard in preparing their submissions for this inquiry--that the white paper actually recommends an increase in funding for sport. This is not what Minister Kelly wanted to hear. I remind you that at the time my suspicions were that indeed this whole process of a white paper was to establish some public imprimatur for a further cut to federal funding. But look what happened.

The coalition is busy slashing $25 million out of the sporting program through the loss of the Olympic Athlete Program and reducing their funding for sport and recreation after the Sydney Olympics. That has led to the minister wanting to bury the white paper. It did not come up with the recommendations she was looking for. Solution: put it on a shelf and let it gather dust, and proceed with the funding cuts.

During senate estimates Mr Robert Crick, head of the Sport and Tourism Division of the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, denied that Shaping Up is a white paper, which the coalition promised at the last election, backing off at 100 miles an hour. For the record, a white paper is `an official report or policy proposal of a government on a specific subject'. Yet when I asked Mr Crick if Shaping Up is a policy paper, he told me that is not a definition of a white paper. He then qualified his answer by saying:

"I think there was an intention initially and it was foreshadowed that the government would produce a white paper. A decision was made, however, as an initial sort of step towards a process of producing a policy statement on sport post-2000, that a review would be undertaken by an independent panel of people well experienced and expert in the area ."

There it is on the public record: either Minister Kelly has broken an election promise to commission a white paper into sports funding or she has kept her promise and chooses now to bury the paper because she did not like its recommendations. Either way, it is an appalling indictment of the government and the minister, because the Australian sporting community is in desperate need of long-term policy and funding structures to be set in place before the Sydney Olympics.

There is no point in addressing the white paper's recommendations after the next budget. Why? While the opposition has many concerns about some of the recommendations in this white paper, we certainly concur with its conclusion that Commonwealth funding is essential in the battle to increase sporting participation and encourage active lifestyles amongst individuals and the community. The most important aspect of Commonwealth funding to the sports sector is to ensure security and continuity of those community organisations which do provide the infrastructure to allow people to be active, healthy and sometimes in their competitive sport participate in compellingly interesting pastimes during their leisure hours. At the moment, elite and Olympic athletes, coaches and organisations are facing massive cuts to their programs--and at least a half a dozen will be axed from the AIS--because of funding shortfalls.

In the last round of Senate estimates the Australian Sports Commission revealed that once the $25 million Olympic Athlete Program--OAP--ceases later this year there will be a reduction in funding for all sports. The commission made it clear that they have told all fields of sport not to enter into contractual arrangements that rely on OAP funding beyond 31 December 2000. This means that, unless increased funding is provided, many Olympic coaches and athletes will head overseas. It also means that Olympic sports like gymnastics, water polo, canoeing, squash, and some track and field and swimming programs may be axed, regardless of their achievements at the Sydney Olympics. In other words, we may face the situation where Australia wins medals in Olympic sports that the AIS will later have to cut because of a lack of funds. I was also told in estimates that the Sports Commission will have to shed jobs in light of the loss of OAP funding.

I find this quite amazing because the sports industry is very much a growth industry. It provides millions of dollars in revenue for state and federal governments--as we shall see when the Olympics occur. That is why the Labor Party believes that investing in both elite, community-based and participatory sport is of essential long-term benefit to the wellbeing of the nation. There will be no Olympic legacy without a continuing investment in athletes, coaches, administrators and support staff and there will not be significant benefits from the Commonwealth investment in sport unless that investment is continuous, consistent and balanced. Unfortunately, none of these three elements is apparent in Minister Kelly's approach to the portfolio.

The white paper contains many recommendations that the opposition disagrees with. However, to simply ignore a document and hope it goes away is an abrogation of responsibility. All of these issues need to be openly discussed and debated rather than shelved. It is not enough to provide funds for the Sydney Olympics and then throw up your hands and say, `We won't fund sport.' To secure our sporting future and retain the legacy that Australia deserves from hosting the Olympics, we must retain our top athletes and coaches. I am concerned that we will lose them when they feel that they have no job security in Australia after the Olympics. Moreover, the AIS and the Sports Commission should not be placed in the position of having to cut programs and tell young athletes that they are no longer wanted because of funding cutbacks.


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*   Issue 45 contents

In this issue
Features
*  Interview: Working Women
Nareen Young talks about how services are being delivered to our most vulnerable workers - and what unions need to do to make them their own.
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*  Unions: Into the New Frontier
IT professionals are part of the new workforce that unions need to win over - and while they are often contractors, they're workers too.
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*  History: Handling The Ladies
1943 - women were filling the gap in the workforce left by the diggers abroad and Australian managers needed some advice on how to deal with these strange creatures.
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*  Technology: Building The Hypermacho Man
In a stinging critque of the �Wired� culture, Melanie Stewart Miller argues digital cultural is creating a new super-Man.
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*  International: The Long March Home
Trade union women round the world used International Women�s Day to launch the World March of Women Against Poverty and Violence.
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*  Satire: Kerosene Dilution Racket
The nursing home industry has been rocked by a new scandal with the revelation that some unscrupulous proprietors have been diluting their patients� kerosene baths with illicit liquids.
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*  Review: Power and the Back Bar
In an upcoming book, Julia Gillard argues the ALP retains a male culture that is fast losing step with contemporary society.
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News
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»  Casuals Inquiry Still On Union Agenda
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»  Shaw, Sams Pay Tribute to John Whelan
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»  Teachers� Website Mysteriously Blocked
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»  Women Demand Better Pay from Faye
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»  Shareholders Push Global Action
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»  TWU Calls on Workers to Steer Clear of Woolworths
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»  Push to Strike Out Parrish Directors
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Columns
»  The Soapbox
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»  Sport
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»  Trades Hall
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»  Tool Shed
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Letters to the editor
»  TV Show Seeks Bankrupt Worker
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»  Crosby Spot On
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»  Confused About Workplace Rights
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»  Global Campaign Against Yahoo!
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»  Teachers Row
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