Queensland Sport Minister forces Federal rethink on national voucher system

Queensland Minister for Sport Mick de Brenni has advised that he has “scored a win” in a bid to pressure the Federal Government to help Queensland children in low-income families participate in sport.

Minister de Brenni (pictured below) said he was “pleased” the weekend’s meeting of Sport and Recreation Ministers in Sydney referred his call for the Federal Government to introduce a national voucher system to the Committee of Australian Sport and Recreation Officials (CASRO).

He advised “at Saturday’s roundtable in Sydney, I stressed that the Federal (Government) ... should introduce a voucher of up to $250 for families receiving the Family Tax Benefit (to create) a level playing field when it comes to helping Queensland children in low-income families play sport.”

To help cover the cost associated with playing sport, the Queensland Government currently provides $150 to children whose parents hold Centrelink pensioner or health care cards.

Minister de Brenni added “it would appear the Australian Olympic Committee’s CEO Matt Carroll agrees with my calls for the Federal Government to lift its funding game, stressing in a recent speech that investment in sport needs to be for participation and performance, saying: ‘No participants, no talent to rise to the top. No elite talent, no inspiration for participants’.”

Minister de Brenni said the Sydney roundtable also agreed to refer to CASRO the findings of a report commissioned by the Queensland Government, which highlighted how families earning less than $45,000 a year only have a sport participation rate of 40%. That figure more than doubles for those on more than $200,000 a year, according to the report.

Minister de Brenni concluded “CASRO are due to report back on the report’s findings, and the voucher proposal before the next Meeting of Sport and Recreation Ministers in the first half of next year.”

Main image courtesy of Gold Coast City Council.