Page 1280 - Week 04 - Thursday, 17 March 2005

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Sport and recreation—active after school program
(Question No 199)

Mr Stefaniak asked the Minister for Economic Development, upon notice, on 17 February 2005:

(1) Has the Active After School Communities program commenced operating yet; if so, when did it commence; if not, when will it commence;

(2) How many coordinators and officers have been appointed in the ACT as part of the program and are these new or existing appointments;

(3) What is the budget for 2004-05 for this program and what is the breakdown of the (a) Australian Sports Commission’s contribution and the (b) ACT Government’s contribution;

(4) How many and which (a) primary, (b) high schools and (c) colleges are currently participating in this program in the ACT;

(5) Have any synergies been identified between this program and the ACT’s ‘Kids at Play’ program; if so, what synergies exist;

(6) Has the Australian Sports Commission given a commitment to provide funding in future years for this program; if so, how much has been committed and over what timeframe.

Mr Quinlan: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:

(1) The program is developed and implemented by the Australian Sports Commission (ASC). The ASC has not yet entered into any partnership agreements with relevant State/Territory agencies for this program, however it intends to commence the program in 15 ACT primary schools in Term 2 of 2005, building up to 40 schools by late2007.

(2) Sport and Recreation ACT (SRACT) has no involvement with the staffing of the program. The ASC has 3 coordinators for the ACT/South West NSW region and are soon to add an administration officer to this team. The ASC staff are located with SRACT on a contractual basis where SRACT is recompensed for their office accommodation costs. However, the ASC staff are not responsible to SRACT, and SRACT has no involvement in their recruitment or employment.

(3) The budget for the program in the ACT is unknown to the ACT Government, which has not made any financial contribution. It is not anticipated that the ACT Government will make any contribution to the program given the Commonwealth’s four-year (national) $90m budget allocation.

(4) The ASC unit is yet to decide which ACT primary schools will participate in the program, which does not extend to high schools or colleges.

(5) SRACT has registered Kids at Play as a potential service provider for the program, which, if approved, could offset some SRACT costs for Kids at Play.

(6) The ASC has a four-year national budget of $90m for the program from 2004/05 to 2007/08. The distribution of this funding is at the discretion of the ASC.


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