AusLeisure

2017/18 South Australian budget has made significant new funding commitments to community and elite sport with backing for women’s participation and South Australia’s Olympic athletes along with help for sporting clubs wanting to establish or replace playing surfaces.

The budget includes a major $20 million grant funding initiative to help sporting clubs establish or replace playing surfaces, as part of a drive to increase participation in grassroots sports.

The funding will be made available over two years and will assist sports like football, hockey, tennis and bowls with synthetic surfaces while sporting clubs using wooden and hardcourt surfaces will also be eligible, such as basketball, volleyball, netball and tennis.

This initiative builds on the South Australian Government’s $10 million commitment in last year’s Budget to build eight artificial pitches and upgrade facilities at football clubs across Adelaide.

A statement from the South Australian Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis explained "artificial pitches or playing surfaces vastly improve the standard of sporting facilities, help save on water costs, and can mean clubs can play in all types of weather."

Grant funding will be prioritised on the basis of contributions made to the project, including by the club or local government organisations.

Other funding commitments include:

• Female Facilities Fund - an additional $14 million over two years for the fund to continue the Government’s support for sport and recreation organisations implementing projects to address the barriers to female participation.
• Netball SA Priceline Stadium first-stage upgrade - $4.5 million in 2017/18 to Netball SA for key infrastructure improvements at the home of netball in South Australia.
• South Australian Olympic Council Grant - $1 million to the South Australian Olympic Council to support South Australian athletes during the 2017 to 2020 Olympic, Paralympics and Commonwealth Games cycle.

Breaking down the barriers to women’s participation in sport has been identified as a high priority for the South Australian Government, with this initiative following a $10 million budget investment last year to build women’s change rooms across South Australia.

Sport SA has welcomed the budget commitments, with Chief Executive Jan Sutherland acknowledging "the significance of the environmental sustainability of the local courts, grounds and ovals." 

Sutherland commented "this innovative program directing resources into community sport addresses the issues associated with the maintenance of facilities and demands of environmental changes."

She went on to say that partnerships across government will be vital in delivering these projects, adding "we welcome these budget allocations for sport and note that as the peak industry body association for the organisations which provide for 870,000 South Australians participating in sport and physical activity, we will continue to call on the government and all political parties to acknowledge the value and contribution of sport to our State."

Cultural funding in the 2017/18 South Australian budget was less generous with $31 million of the $36 million claimed as additional support for the arts being allocated to expanding the redevelopment of Her Majesty’s Theatre.

The revised Her Majesty’s Theatre capital works program includes adding an additional floor, raising the roof above the stage to accommodate a modern fly tower, replacing the aging roof above the auditorium, and improving patron safety by upgrading the building’s safety measures. The project will create up to 220 jobs during construction, which is expected to be completed in late 2019. 

23rd March 2017 - SPORT SA CALLS FOR ‘IMMEDIATE’ $10 MILLION INJECTION INTO SOUTH AUSTRALIAN SPORT

9th December 2016 - SOUTH AUSTRALIAN PLAN TO GET MORE WOMEN INVOLVED IN SPORT

20th November 2016 - INDUSTRY CELEBRATED AT 2016 KPMG SOUTH AUSTRALIAN SPORT AWARDS 

2nd October 2016 - SOUTH AUSTRALIA OPENS SPORT FUNDING PROGRAM FOR FEMALE CHANGE ROOMS

19th June 2016 - ADELAIDE’S HER MAJESTY’S THEATRE TO BENEFIT FROM $35 MILLION REDEVELOPMENT

19th April 2016 - RALLY HEARS THAT SOUTH AUSTRALIAN ARTS FUNDING AT RISK OF BEING ‘DECIMATED’

14th June 2013 - SOFTBALL AND BASEBALL PITCH IN TOGETHER IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA

26th March 2012 - ETSA ENDS NETBALL SA STADIUM SPONSORSHIP

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