Australia high performance funding

Athletes big winners in new high performance funding@ASC

The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) Board today announced the allocation to national sporting organisations (NSO) of $23.2 million in new high performance sport funding.

‘This extra funding is part of the largest package ever allocated to Australian sport,’ the Chair of the ASC Board the Hon Warwick Smith AM said today.

Mr Smith welcomed the support of both sides of politics for this allocation of high performance funding immediately, to meet the needs of sports.

As part of the Australian sport reform package Australian Sport: The Pathway to Success, the Government tasked the ASC with implementing the new direction and distribution of funding.

The new high performance funding injections range from $200,000 to $3 million per annum, benefiting 25 Olympic, Paralympic and non-Olympic Australian sporting bodies.

Swimming Australia and the Australian Paralympic Committee received the highest allocations of $3 million each which will help spearhead Australian elite sport through to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Sochi 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and beyond.

All NSOs were encouraged to bid for the new high performance funding to drive Australia’s continued sporting success.

In order to determine how best to invest the additional high performance funding the ASC developed an improved assessment framework based on the existing ‘Excellence, Relevance and Effectiveness’ criteria utilised by the Commission during previous funding deliberations.

Consistent with the focus on a more collaborative and effective sport system, the ASC consulted with State and Territory Institutes and Academies of Sport and State and Territory Departments of Sport and Recreation, in relation to the assessment criteria prior to making any decisions.

The additional high performance funding has been made to sports seen to demonstrate an ability to deliver successful outcomes in line with the Government’s new direction for sport.

This funding is in addition to the current baseline high performance funding NSO’s will continue to receive.

‘We believe that this high performance funding will provide exciting new opportunities for Australian sporting organisations and the elite athletes that all Australians are so proud of,’ Mr Smith said.