Sport plays a vital role in fostering healthy communities. 

Our health system is bursting at the seams, social isolation is growing and community cohesion is fraying, but the ACT Government hasn’t had the foresight to invest in community sport as a way of addressing some of these challenges.

Too many of our existing sports grounds and facilities are falling apart, and not enough new facilities are being constructed to match the growth of our population.

Local sporting organisations have long called for a 10-year community sport infrastructure plan and a community sport peak body. This report turns these calls into clear recommendations to government.

How can we possibly meet our community’s sporting infrastructure needs without a plan for doing so? 

In the absence of a long-term community sport infrastructure plan, sporting organisations that should be collaborators are pushed to view each other as competitors in a zero-sum fight for limited funding. This dynamic is amplified by the absence of a peak body responsible for elevating all voices from across the full community sport spectrum.

Hopefully with a new minister at the helm, we’ll see the ACT Government step up to the plate and start investing in sport at a level commensurate to its value for our community.

END STATEMENT

BACKGROUND

Mr Emerson’s supply-and-confidence agreement with the Chief Minister includes a commitment “to deliver longer-term infrastructure planning to maintain and improve sporting facilities across the ACT in close collaboration with the community sport sector.”

The Economics, Industry and Recreation Committee handed down the final report from its Inquiry into barriers and opportunities for participation in community sports in the ACT this afternoon. 

The report’s recommendations include establishing “a recognised peak organisation to provide member services and a coordinated advocacy and communication channel for the community sport sector” and developing “a 10-year sports and recreation strategy by the end of 2027, co-designed with the community sports sector and reviewed every three years”.