Address by Senator Kate Lundy

CONFEDERATION of AUSTRALIAN SPORT

Participation: the foundation of elite success

May 1, 1998 -  National Convention Centre

Good afternoon, and thank you for inviting me here to speak today.

I want to address a number of matters related to sports policy and in particular touch on a few issues that are relevant to Australia’s sporting future.

An aspect I will discuss is the balance between elite and community sport. The other is the role of women in sport.

But I want to begin by talking a bit about the Economic Impact Study of Sport conducted by the Confederation of Australian Sport.

This is an excellent document. It establishes the parameters for any analysis of the economic and social value of sport to Australian society.

It also provides a comprehensive analysis of the Australian sports sector and its relationship to productivity, revenue and exports.

As the Confederation report emphasises, the sports sector makes a tremendous contribution to the Australian economy.

A Bureau of Statistics report released yesterday into sport and recreation brings to the fore the findings contained in the Confederation’s report.

The ABS found that the sport and recreation sector was worth $11.8 billion in 1993-94.

I should point out that while this figure includes gambling, the ABS did find that Australian households spend over $4 billion every year on sport and recreation – and that figure does not include monies spent on gambling.

The Bureau report noted that the economic contribution of sport and recreation rivalled the motor vehicle and textiles, clothing and footwear industries in terms of contributing to the Australian economy.

Economics aside, the Confederation’s report provides a snapshot of the nation’s health.

Unfortunately, while we are a nation of sport’s watchers, we are not necessarily a nation of sporting participants.

As a representative for the ACT - and a women who is an active sports participant - I was more than pleased to see that the ACT stands out from the rest of Australia with regard to sports participation.

In fact, Canberra’s male and female adult participation rates are well above every other state and only fractionally behind the Northern Territory.

Almost 40 per cent of ACT males participate in some form of sports activity. This contrasts with NSW, where the male participation rate is about 32 per cent.

The female sports participation rate for the ACT is about 35 per cent, which is approximately 10 per cent higher than the female rate for NSW.

The most satisfying statistic to emerge from the Economic Impact Study is that the ACT leads the nation in sports participation rates for children.

We have a participation rate of 74.6 per cent, which is a stark contrast to Victoria’s child participation rate of only 54.9 per cent.

Statistics like these provide a useful platform for examining the relationship between sport and the economy.

For example, a 5per cent increase in the rate of sports participation will deliver a net economic benefit of over $880 million.

Equally important to the economic benefits of sports participation are the positive flow-on effects that result from a healthier society.

The workforce benefits too, particularly in terms of productivity and the economics of occupational health.

Hence the relevance of these participation rates is that they provide an outline of how healthy we are as a people and how sport contributes to the economic health of the nation.

What these statistics don’t tell us, however, is who is excluded or unable to participate in sporting activities.

Infrastructure also presents a structural barrier. With regards to community sporting infrastructure, there are definitely a number of areas that must be addressed if we are to increase the level of participation and consequently increase the health of the country.

One area that must be addressed is the continued disproportion of male participation in sporting activities and administration.

This is just one of the many issues that are part of the unglamorous side of Australian sporting culture.

One way this gender inequity can be addresses is for the federal government to increase funding to community and recreational facilities.

Increased funding is essential in order to redress the imbalance of access and equity to sporting infrastructure.

An example of these inequities in recreational facilities is highlighted in a survey conducted by Womensport and Recreation NSW into the provision of football fields and netball courts in Sydney’s North Shore.

While there are 308 football fields on the North Shore there are only 284 netball courts – of which 116 are grass, and therefore unusable in wet weather.

Remember that Australia is currently the world netball champions and netball has the highest participation rate of any team sport in the country.

I suggest that if netball was a male sport - and the Australian men’s team was the world champions - then the number of hard courts or indoor netball centres would be much higher.

This is just one example of why funding to recreational sports infrastructure must be more balanced so that there is a consistency in terms of access and allocation of resources.

In the same way that access and equity to sports facilities must be addressed in terms of gender, so to does the need to look at the barriers to female involvement in sports administration.

Women make up only 11 per cent of national presidents of sporting organisations and they comprise less than 25 per cent of sporting national executives.

Women often face the same barriers in sport that they face in the general workplace. And, in many respects, the arguments I am putting forward today are the same ones that women have been pursuing ‘off the field’ for many years now.

Essentially what sports women are saying is that they have unequal representation at administrative levels and that funding for recreational facilities is not balanced in terms of access and safety.

These last two points are relevant because they serve as barriers to female participation.

Poor or non-existent infrastructure is a major problem and only a change to the philosophy of funding can redress this.

In short, female sports participants have to deal with:

All of these are barriers to increasing female sports participation. I might add that they also serve as barriers to children’s participation.

Too many grounds and recreational centres cater mainly for men.

As a result, female grass-roots sports participants face difficulties above and beyond their male counterparts.

So how do we redress this imbalance in access and equity?

In the first place, there needs to be a reassessment of how existing facilities are used and how future facilities and programs are designed and implemented.

Obviously we cannot step back 20 or 30 years and re-plan and re-design existing sporting infrastructures.

Nor can we formulate some magical program or policy that will automatically increase the levels of sports participation and create a healthier workforce.

But what we can do is examine the relationship between recreational and school sports facilities and the needs of the general public in order to determine how best to maximise community use.

Too often we find communities or regions where sports facilities serve only a fraction of the population.

Too often we find regions or urban centres where some sections are well catered for while others compete for resources.

Unfortunately, it is more often than not women, migrants and Aboriginals who miss out.

If you examine the relationship between small communities with well-funded facilities and those without you will see an obvious difference in terms of youth suicide, vandalism, juvenile crime and alienation.

A decent football field or netball or basketball court with a club house and change rooms can make an enormous difference to the mental, physical and economic health of a small town or town centre.

One area that I think is worth looking at is how existing government funded facilities in rural and regional Australia operate.

I remember how Police Boys Clubs used to be a centre for sporting and community participation. They provided facilities and programs beyond the normal school activities.

They also operated at a social level by providing a safe and controlled environment for sport as well as social events like discos.

It is therefore a matter of priority for the Government to introduce strategies and policies that promote and maintain a higher level of sports participation for all Australians.

During our period in opposition the Labor Party has been working on policies to overcome these inequities and imbalances.

We believe that through the assistance of the Australian Sports Commission - and in consultation with community sports organisations - we can create programs specifically designed to broaden the base of community participation.

The Labor Party is also committed to pursuing a variety of options for funding sport and recreational facilities.

The details of these funding options will, of course, be revealed before the next election.

And speaking of the next election, I might add that the dangers a GST poses to the sports sector should not be underestimated.

The Confederation of Australian Sport’s position paper on Taxation Reform clearly underlines how a GST will effect the sports industry.

As sporting activities may well be included in a GST, the flow-on effects from any increase in charges will naturally be felt throughout the country.

How will a GST impact on the cost of sports medicine? How will a GST effect the cost of sports insurance? Will a Goods and Services Tax extend to the cost of hiring grounds and equipment?

These are the sort of questions that the Government must answer before the next election.

And even though we don’t know exactly what is contained in the up-coming Budget, the existing cuts to sports funding has already impacted on the Australian Sports Commission and Australian Sports Drugs Agency

One of the reasons that Labor wants to enhance and broaden the base of community sports participation is that we recognise that sport is a coalescing force that binds many communities and regions together.

Here in Canberra for example, the arrival of the Raiders football team gave this city an image beyond the Parliamentary Triangle.

Now the development of these relationships has created the need for a level of maturity in terms of managing differing interests at a local political level.

More and more we see the political underwriting of a sporting venture.

On one level, governments understand the link between politics, sport and the community. But on the other hand, they have failed to invest in this bond by providing funding for areas apart from the glamorous ‘top-end’ side of sport.

This bond between community and sport goes far beyond simply just following a team. Look at the Brumbies last year, or Queanbeyan after Megan Stills brought home her gold medal in the Woman’s Pair at Atlanta.

What I am suggesting is that the benefits from sport are not just physical and economic, but psychological.

And while it is impossible to quantify the collective psychological benefits, I think that all of us know just how important sporting success and participation is to a community or district.

As policy makers, this ‘unquantifiability’ must not be allowed to excuse us from factoring them in to our considerations.

The ACT is fortunate in that we have an abundance of representative sporting sides. Although the Territory has only 300,000 people, we boast a Union side in the Super 12s, a cricket team in the One-Day competition and Basketball teams in national leagues.

We know only too well the pressures of the economic viability determining the future of these teams.

AFL is a case in point where economic viability and structural considerations are the FIRST test. Our limited market and well defined corporate participants in sponsorship deals means money is always tight and the battle between these clubs and the hundreds of school, college and university teams for sponsorship and fans has never been more intense.

As a result, there is an even greater demand for properly funded infrastructure and facilities – not just at the elite and professional level, but at the recreational level as well.

As we approach 2000 and the Sydney Olympics, it is important that the Government does not lose sight of the needs to enhance and broaden community sport.

The fact is that while Australia measures its international standing partly by our sporting success, the well being of Australian’s in not determined at the elite level, but at the recreational and community level.

Of course Australia, like almost every other country in the world, elevates sport to be a yardstick for the nation’s health. As the cliche goes: when we do well at international competition we feel better about ourselves.

The value of sport to our international image and reputation is well known. This represents the obvious face of sport and I’m sure that the 2000 Olympics will provide a platform to escalate Australia’s international sporting reputation.

However this healthy preoccupation we have with sport is not necessarily reflected by a healthy preoccupation with participating in sport.

And herein lies the challenge for governments and sports administrators.