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Submission by Peter W Richardson on 24 October 2008.

1. Ensure Australia's continued elite sporting success

duplication (and gaps) exist due to the co-existence but apparent lack of coordination and/or integration of similar sporting bodies at state and federal levels - state bodies should work to a consensus-based national plan.
The ASC, AIS, State and Territory Institutes seem to work quite well together but the distribution/accessibility of regional sports assemblies and sports academies/institutes meaning the needs of athletes in many country areas and many sports are not equally served.
Current talent identification programs are ""top heavy"", lack scientific credibility and seem to be designed to serve the needs of those running these programs rather than athletes. There is a lack of evidence to justify such a dominant focus on ""picking winners"" at such a young age in many sports, and a lack of support for ""later developers"" - we have no national/state policies on the ""relative age effect"". More funds should be targeted at ""broadening the development pyramid"" and promoting developmentally approriate pathways that will produce a far greater pool of potentially elite athletes and coaches. Access to quality facilities in regional areas desperately needs attention (via development of partnerships between community sporting bodies-local govt-schools) as does development of sport-specific standards, policies and procedures.

The premise that government funding of elite sport promotes grass-roots PA participation is questionnable and should be investigated - there is some evidence that the predominance of elite/male/professional models in the media is in fact spreading a negative stereotype of sport and contributing to inappropriate behaviours (among athletes, coaches, parents and teachers) and greater drop-off rates in participation.
Funding of elite sports (athletes, organizations) should be linked to performance standards and PA promotion conditions - to make it apparent that there is a world of difference between achievement through dedication and personal sacrifice and ""anything goes - win at all costs"". Promotion of the holistic personal and social benefits of regular PA and sport needs to be reflected in a turnaround to the trend of increasing ""academization"" of school curricula and dramatic reduction in PE and PA as part of every Australian child's education.
The ""win at all costs"", ""only winning counts"" culture and the lack of access to developmentally-approapriate sporting experiences and adequate facilities (especially in regional areas) are the main barriers.
Sport for All - not just the ""winners"" - education of grass-roots coaches (and coach educators) is a major challenge - the elite ""role models"" currently provided are not necessarily the answer.

Examine the capacity of the system to ensure optimal and efficient delivery of the athlete and coach pathway for any given sport - national and state sporting bodies should be much more accountable - there should be open/transparent/consistent national benchmarked standards in regards to coach/player selection policies and processes, and coach performance evaluation.
Recommend the most effective support and recognition for the coaches, officials, umpires, administrators and volunteers who keep our community clubs alive - involve all stake-holders in the development of effective, manageable and relevant ""solutions"" that are appropriate to grass-roots levels (sensitive to age/gender/culture, geographic, expertise access issues).
Examine how relationships between the Commonwealth Government and National Sporting Organisations, State Sporting Organisations and Australia’s peak representative bodies at key multi-sports competitions may be strengthened to deliver better performance outcomes - (1) set required benchmarks covering access (especially for regional areas) and (2) funding of ""elite"" sporting programs and athletes should be conditional on ""payback"" responsibilities involving services back to grassroots levels

Examine the capacity of the system to ensure provision of cutting edge technology, innovation, sport science, sports medicine, applied research to underpin sport performance and development, including ways to maintain Australia’s position as leaders in anti-doping - funding of elite levels should be open and transparent, regularly evaluated to ensure accountability against criteria and measures in the context of a systematic, planned, multi-disciplinary approach. There should be a stronger relationship with relevant respected university departments to foster a stronger evidence-base to program development and planning (with cross-disciplinary involvement).
Examine the current partnerships in place within these fields and recommend any potential partnerships - sport-specific as well as cross-disciplinary, multi-sport partnerships could be developed between NSOs, SSOs and University departments - cross-disciplinary involvement should be compulsory in planning and policy development.

This is not my main area of expertise but I'd have thought

funding from ""pokies"" should be directed into this area,
more funding should cross boundaries (Federal and State govt dept's, Health/Education/etc) to promote and support public health and preventive health initiatives/strategies and holistic benefits to individuals and communites (such as those that come from physically active lifestyles and sporting participation), and
target ""fast food"", sports and sports med goods/suppliers to channel more funding to community/grassroots level more.

Page last updated: 24 October, 2008