I was delighted to see Independents for Canberra finally realise you actually need policies to take to the electorate. I was additionally pleased to see them listen in formulating their sports policy to such eminent Canberra sporting legends as the intrepid Jim Roberts, former Chair of ACTSPORT and Sports House, and Graeme Carter, the inspirational longtime ACT Hockey administrator, in formulating the same.
What Tom Emerson and his party seemed to come up with was a policy that went back to the good old days when sport was actually considered to be an important area of local government, and ministers such as myself and my Labor mate and successor Ted Quinlan ensured sports received triennial funding grants so they could plan ahead with certainty, special one-off grants for major projects, provision of a central home to operate out of should they wish (i.e., 72 different sports under the one roof in the old Sports House, the old Watson Primary School), and a peak body funded by government to represent sports interests as a lobby group. Indeed, when, as sports minister, I helped Jim, the late Harry Maher, and Graeme set ACTSPORT up in early 1990, I specifically told this body that I expected it to criticise all governments of any political persuasion, including a government I was part of, if that government did not look after the interests of sport properly.
True to its word, over its 25 years of existence, it did, and we all benefited.
I was amazed when both Sports House and ACTSPORT were defunded around 2014 when Shane Rattenbury was sports minister – and the ALP went along with it. It would never have happened if Ted Quinlan had still been minister!
On another note, I agree with Jim and Graeme that maybe we now need to look at funding sports for four-year or even five-year terms. I think the Independents for Canberra are happy to do four-year plans, and in that respect, they seem to be following the tried and proven path Ted and I took.
The Belco Party is working on a proposal that should guarantee much better sports ground maintenance and urban amenities for the future, and which should remove a lot of the hassle that sporting clubs go through when interacting with local government these days.
The current Green/Labor government has in recent times dropped the ball, especially when it comes to providing affordable sport for our children. This needs to be rectified. Introducing a voucher system for children to help struggling families, like NSW has, would be greatly beneficial for junior sport in Canberra.
Independents for Canberra are to be commended on this policy, which the Belco Party supports (with a few additions). It would be good if all the other independents could commit to this or something similar so it can be introduced (or rather reintroduced) into the Assembly by whoever forms the government after 19 October. After all, an active Canberra is a healthy, happier Canberra.
