Page 1059 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 20 April 1994
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SPORT, RECREATION AND RACING BUREAU
Ministerial Statement
MR LAMONT (Minister for Urban Services, Minister for Housing and Community Services, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Sport): Madam Speaker, I ask for leave of the Assembly to make a ministerial statement on arrangements for sport, recreation and racing.
Leave granted.
MR LAMONT: Madam Speaker, my colleague Mr Wood and I have agreed to a number of significant and positive changes in the administration of arts and sport in this Territory, changes which will further strengthen this Government's already strong commitment to these vital portfolios. In relation to sport, recreation and racing, participation rates in the ACT are ahead of those in any other Australian State or Territory. However, it is clear that this is only a beginning and that in sport, recreation and racing there are many significant opportunities on the horizon which will have enormous benefits for our community.
What is also clear is the need for an administrative structure which can fully exploit these opportunities. It is with this objective in mind that I have established a Bureau of Sport, Recreation and Racing which will be responsible to me through the Secretary of the Department of the Environment, Land and Planning. There are a number of immediate priorities on which the bureau, together with my Sport and Recreation Council, will focus. I will outline a number of these today.
The "More than a Game" strategic plan, which provides a vision for sport and recreation in the ACT to the year 2000, will be finalised in the coming months. I have asked that the bureau identify priority initiatives in this plan which can be developed and implemented in conjunction with the ACT sporting community. An ACT 2000 Committee was established last year to identify ways in which the ACT might maximise the very considerable benefits relating to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. The committee will be presenting a strategy to government for its consideration in August of this year. This will not be a plan focused on the two weeks of the Olympics, but rather a strategy for developing and enhancing our sporting, economic, tourism and cultural foundations over the next six years and beyond. We will be focusing on the further development of junior sport in the Territory whilst at the same time ensuring that we provide opportunities for all age groups in our community to participate in a wide range of sporting and recreational activities and events. The mature age group will provide a special focus in this regard.
We lead the way in the development of drug testing legislation. Within the next few weeks this Assembly will be debating the Sports (Drug Testing) Bill, and I will be putting in place an education program and appropriate administrative support for its implementation. Sportsgrounds and facilities management is another important area in which I will be looking for innovative new practices. I see opportunities for the
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