?E & OE proof only
?Subjects: Olympics, Australia?s performance, sport in schools, innovation in sport
EASTLEY:? The Federal Sports Minister, Kate Lundy is happy with the way sport is played and funded in schools in Australia. She says there is a system of identifying elite athletes and concedes there may be a review of some sort after the London Olympics. She says it?s always a struggle between getting kids to participate in sport and then developing elite athletes to represent Australia. I caught up with the Minister in London on a scratchy mobile telephone line. Kate Lundy, good morning. John Coates says a lot of attention is needed in the future and he sees the school system as a key part of improvement. Is he right?
LUNDY:? Look, I think there are many parts of the Australian sports system that we are very proud of. We have got one of the best volunteer-based community sport networks in the whole world. Our school system is good. We have a wonderful high performance program and I?m sure people are looking forward to making an assessment of that post-Olympics and we?ve been investing more money than ever into participation programs to get as many people active in sport as possible.
EASTLEY: I guess the question is though, that is all very well, but does it produce gold medal winners?
LUNDY: Well, what we?re seeing over at the Olympics at the moment is that we?re coming so close so many times. It is a millimetre or a millisecond and it?s just not going our way. I don?t think that diminishes the achievements of our silver medallists. They are on the podium; we are still way up there with the best of the best in the world in sport.
EASTLEY: But John Coates is blaming schools for the poor performance. Is that fair?
LUNDY: Well, I think if you read his comments carefully he is not blaming schools, he has just raised one part of our system of sport in Australia, schools. It is a very important part. The schools do have a role to play, as does community sport, as does our incredible club network, and our national sporting organisations in the way they support junior sport. So there is no one piece of our sport system that is broken. What we do need to do is to continue to innovate, which I think works to Australia?s great strengths. We?ve always punched above our weight in sport and we need to be smarter about how we use our resources to stay right up there.
EASTLEY: Alright, does that mean ?smart? that you talk about, does that include the profiling of children at an earlier age in what sort of sport they may be good at?
LUNDY: I think talent ID is part of the sport systems everywhere in the world now and it has certainly been a ? [inaudible]? factor we were pioneering in Australia some decades ago. I think what?s crucial is that across the board we need to keep our sports systems strong.
EASTLEY: Kate Lundy, there is a joint investigation by the ABC and Fairfax has uncovered serious corruption in horse racing in Australia. Are you confident that the industry is clean enough?
LUNDY: Well, we know, what we do know is that this of course is a matter for the States. They are responsible for regulating horse racing across Australia. The Federal Government has progressed our match fixing and anti corruption laws in sport significantly over the last six to 12 months and we?ve been working very closely with State Sport Ministers and State Attorney-General to make sure that we?ve got strong laws in the broader area of sport where the Commonwealth does have a role to play.
EASTLEY: Should there be a review though of the individual state legislations and safeguards that look after the horse racing industry?
LUNDY:??Well, I think we, obviously these things will unfold as the material goes to air on Four Corners, but certainly I?d be gravely concerned if there is evidence of systemic corruption. I don?t know what that story will say. We need to have a look at that and obviously act if necessary.
EASTLEY:? The Federal Sports Minister, Kate Lundy, in London.
ENDS.
Source: http://www.katelundy.com.au/2012/08/06/transcript-of-interview-with-tony-eastley-on-am-abc-radio/
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