Page 1269 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 3 April 2019
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MR MILLIGAN (Yerrabi) (11.58): I thank my colleague Ms Lee for bringing this important motion to the Assembly. We all know Ms Lee’s passion for providing the best possible education for students in ACT, and this push to improve physical education in schools is yet another example of that. The minister made some important points in her amendment to the motion. However, I highlight that the funding for peak bodies and capital works to community organisations is not directly linked or tied to sport in schools. I also note that the amount of funding the ACT government is making use of from the sporting schools fund is only a very small piece of the pie, given that this program is worth $200 million. There are some positives, though, and I am glad to see yet another review is occurring from this minister who is looking at the curriculum in this area.
No-one can argue against the benefits of physical education and sport for our youth—or any age level or generation for that matter. So why should we care about this issue and why is it important for our schools to show leadership in this area? Only six out of 10 children aged between five and 14 years participate in sport outside of school. Seventy per cent of boys participate in sport compared to 56 per cent of girls. Evidence suggests that physically active children are more likely to mature into physically active adults.
Taking steps to reduce children’s inactive time and instil a love of sport and recreation early in life is crucial. I say sport and recreation because both are important. Not all kids love sport, and I understand that. But that does not mean they should not have the opportunity to try and be challenged. Kids want to explore other interests these days and teachers are amazing at finding creative ways to include that in our schools—dance, hiking, orienteering, geocaching, parkour. The options are wide and varied.
We need to be mindful that without greater structures and support for schools to deliver physical education not only does sport suffer but the inclusive option that recreation provides to students can also be overlooked. With everything we have heard recently in this place about bullying and the trends in our society in terms of online interaction and social isolation, sport has never been more important to our community and our culture.
At the end of the day, these are things we all know and can agree on. Any logical person understands that physical education and physical literacy are important skills for our children. We know it is important for young people to play sport and stay active for their physical and mental health and wellbeing and to develop their physical literacy. Physical literacy is the motivation, confidence, competence, knowledge and understanding to value the responsibility for engagement in physical activities for life. Again, we can all agree that these are key skills and attributes to instil in our children and our youth. Coaches, teachers, sporting organisations and parents can help get young people moving and this should be a higher priority in our schools.
As outlined by my colleague Ms Lee the current policy is that students in kindergarten to year 6 will be provided with a minimum of 25 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per day. Students from years 7 to 10 will be provided with a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week as part
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