Australian Government launches strategy for sporting diplomacy

Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Marise Payne, and Minister for Sport, Bridget McKenzie, have today launched the nation’s new Sports Diplomacy 2030 strategy, outlining how sport will be used as a form of ‘soft power’ in the Asia-Pacific region.

Building on Australia’s global reputation as a high performing and passionate sporting nation, the Strategy provides a plan on how the country can capitalise on our sporting excellence on and off the field, for the benefit of our local athletes, sports codes, and regional partners.

A statement introducing the policy explains “sport is one of Australia’s great strengths and an important diplomatic asset. It provides a platform for projecting our values, building people-to-people connections and strengthening communities.”

The Strategy prioritises four main objectives: empowering Australian athletes and sports codes to represent the nation globally, including Asia and the Indo-Pacific; encouraging Australian sports codes to build links with neighbours in the region; maximising the tourism and investment opportunities from sport; and using sport to strengthen communities in the Indo-Pacific.

The Government is already demonstrating its commitment to building our sports links with the Pacific through the recently announced Australian-Pacific Sports Linkages Program and revitalised Australian Sports Partnerships Program, two of the Strategy’s flagship programs.

Sports Diplomacy 2030 was informed by national consultations with representatives from all the major Australian sports codes and other key sports stakeholders.

European Sporting Integrity Convention
In a related development, Senator McKenzie has today signed the Council of Europe Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions - the Macolin Convention.

Minister McKenzie advised “the Macolin Convention is the only multilateral treaty specifically aimed at combating match-fixing and other related corruption in sport.

“This signing is another major step to protect the safety, fairness and integrity of the sporting competitions we all enjoy so much.”

Membership of the ‘Macolin Community’ will enable Australia to obtain formal ongoing access to international counterparts and meetings to work together and drive the measures to combat corruption in global sport.

The Sports Diplomacy 2030 strategy can be viewed at www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/Sports-home

Image: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison (centre) advances Australian sport diplomacys during his visit to Fiji last month.