Pushing for better governance in Australian sport

Federal Minister for Sport Kate Lundy has released a revised set of sport governance principles for Australia's National Sporting Organisations (NSOs) to improve their governance arrangements.

Building on the principles developed in 2007, the revised document will encourage NSOs to focus on their management, planning and reporting practices.

Senator Lundy (pictured) stated "the Government is committed to encouraging national sporting organisations to continue improving their transparency and practice good governance in sport.

"Just as our sporting heroes are role models in the sporting arena, our sporting organisations need to set a good example in their corporate practices.

"They need to be transparent, accountable and responsible; and they also need to demonstrate leadership, responsiveness and integrity in their decision making.

"A modern governance structure is the basis for making the critical connection between elite professional sport and community sport, where millions of Australians live their own sporting dreams.

"The Australian Government is laying out the building blocks of best practice in sporting governance and we are confident this will help to improve the operation of our national sporting organisations."

Senator Lundy said the revised sport governance principles have been developed by the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) after extensive consultation with the industry, adding "the ASC met with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure the principles are compatible with the demands of modern sports administration.

"The review underlined the importance of each sports board to set a strategic direction and then closely monitor its performance against its strategic objectives.

"Effective sport governance allows for the focus to stay in the sporting arena and enables sports to reach their full potential.

"I congratulate the sporting organisations who have initiated their own strategies to improve governance and I encourage others to adopt the sport governance principles we are releasing today."

The governance principles include matters such as board composition, roles, powers reporting, performance and processes, systems, member relationship and reporting and ethical and responsible decision making.

A copy of the revised governance principles can be found at www.ausport.gov.au/supporting/clubs/governance

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