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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-09-23 Daily Xml
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SOUTH AUSTRALIAN SPORTS INSTITUTE

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (15:29): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Leader of the Government, representing the Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing, questions about the South Australian Sports Institute (SASI).

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: Recently, I have been contacted by constituents who are concerned about the facilities at SASI and the levels of funding it receives from the Rann government. I have been told that the SASI budget has not kept up with CPI for years. One constituent has complained that the lack of support for elite sport—specifically, Olympic and Commonwealth Games athletes—has forced South Australia's most successful athletes such as champion swimmer Hayden Stoeckel to move interstate. In an interview published in The Australian of 16 September, Hayden said:

The last straw for me was my shoulder rehabilitation...I couldn't get the support I needed from SASI (South Australian Sports Institute), they just don't have the money for that.

Stoeckel said that he was sorry to leave his Adelaide coach, Peter Bishop, but felt that the AIS was now his best option if he was to add to his international medal tally.

Clearly, South Australia is losing elite athletes due to the condition of training facilities and the lack of funding and support these elite athletes need. My questions to the minister are: why is SASI underfunded, and will the minister raise the issue in cabinet and rectify the situation?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Small Business) (15:30): I would have thought that, in relation to swimmers, one of the areas that is most handicapping their progress in this state has been the lack of a proper facility.

This government is spending well over $100 million (that is the total cost of the project, with money from the commonwealth government as well) to build a new swimming centre that will be up to FINA standard. That is a massive commitment from this government in relation to sport, so that we can have a FINA level aquatic centre in this state.

Those facilities do not come cheap; they cost a lot of money, and this government is providing it. I think the basic assumption underlying the honourable member's question is incorrect, because this government is supporting the sports industry in South Australia and, in particular, with the significant amount of money that it is putting into the aquatic centre.

There is an election in six months and the honourable member (who, I think, is a shadow minister now—everyone on that side of the chamber is) can say, 'Our government will commit extra funding for elite athletes.' Of course, they will have to balance the books and tell us where that funding will come from.

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