AUSactive’s Barrie Elvish: Federal Government should not let Sports Commission run a physical activity campaign

AUSactive Chief Executive Barrie Elvish has this morning emphasised the role the exercise industry can play in meeting Australia’s national health and physical activity objectives.

In his opening address at the AUSActive Senior Management Summit, being held alongside the AusFitness Industry event in Sydney this morning, Elvish highlighted the peak body’s ongoing lobbying and campaigning to improve how its messages are recognised by governments and the wider community, pointing to AUSactive directors meeting Federal Government representatives in Canberra as of yesterday.

Elvish advised “it’s important to make the most of opportunities to talk to politicians that understand the importance of physical activity”, recalling how “at the start of this year we had a budget solution asking for tax deductibility for gym memberships, for a change on the FBT (fringe benefits tax) on gym memberships and for a public health campaign on the benefits of physical activity.”

Elvish acknowledged that such a campaign should have an overall focus on physical activity rather than gym memberships, which could be seen as self interest on behalf of AUSactive members. Rather, he saw increased visits to fitness facilities would likely benefit from such a campaign.

Significantly, Elvish firmly stated “the worst thing the Federal Government can do in promoting physical activity is to give any campaign to the Australian Sports Commission."

Elaborating on this when speaking to Australasian Leisure Management later, Elvish stated “I  see that the sports sector has successfully over convinced governments and those who make government policy into believing that sport equates to physical activity.

“Now I’m the first to acknowledge that all sport involves physical activity but very little physical activity involves sport. With sport participation in the general community falling off a cliff - other than elite sports and sporting clubs in the regional areas because, in regional areas sport plays a different role in providing a cohesive glue for the for that community - but young kids these days are not interested in playing sport.

“They’re not interested in committing themselves to 20 weeks season, they’re not interested in training four three times a week - they would prefer to go skating, surfing or cycling once a week - so sport participation is dropping, and this is confirmed by studies like AusPlay."