Page 2790 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 29 June 2011
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know the value of healthy living and for students also to learn good eating habits as a cornerstone of their active lifestyle. These are among the great gifts of physical education and are at the forefront of the fight against childhood obesity as well as combating chronic health issues.
We know that this is a matter that has been debated a lot in the media of late and we can only keep emphasising how important physical education and physical activity are for our young people. These benefits are in addition to the obvious inherent features of fair play, teamwork, healthy competition and individual achievement that exist within virtually all sport and active recreation activities.
Active 2020 is a great blueprint for the future. It embodies three fundamental goals that are pursued by most sport and recreation organisations in the ACT. It seeks to increase participation in competitive, non-competitive and social sport and recreation activities at all levels. It seeks to provide opportunities for achieving excellence in sporting performance and to ensure access to sustainable and quality infrastructure for the delivery of their activities.
Active 2020 takes into account the challenges and the opportunities within the current operating environment. It has been developed in awareness of the recommendations of the 2008 Australian sport system review known as the Crawford report and the 2009 ACT recreation industry capacity mapping project. The strategy recognises the importance of fostering strategic partnerships in addressing current challenges. These include social and environmental issues, changing demographics, the need for education and health systems to adapt and the increasing cost of developing and maintaining facilities. It also acknowledges the importance of ensuring decisions continue to be made using research to support educated planning and a sound business base for future funding.
Active 2020 contains seven strategic priorities and I will list them here: to maximise community engagement, to promote the benefits, to increase organisational capacity, to maximise individual success, to deliver sustainable team performances, to promote a national sporting capital and to maximise supporting infrastructure. These initiatives will be supported by a strategic support platform which includes long-term infrastructure, facilities and resource plans, communication and marketing strategies, as well as ongoing stakeholder engagement. I understand too that the plan will be managed, monitored and reviewed by industry and government through the active 2020 monitoring group. In summary, the strategy is a solid blueprint, as I said, to ensure sport and recreation delivers social, economic and health benefits to the community.
But there is always more to be done. And that is why I am today calling on the ACT government to continue to provide encouragement to sporting clubs and organisations to support and promote sporting and active recreation programs. This encouragement must be broad, including targeting those with a disability, our youth, Indigenous Canberrans, women, the aged and cultural groups. I note strategic initiative 1.5 of the active 2020 strategic plan deals with these issues. It says:
Ensure programs support populations including disability, youth, indigenous, women, ageing and cultural groups.”
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