Ben Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Local Sporting Champions grants program is extremely popular in Tangney and, no doubt, in Deputy Speaker Hastie's electorate of Canning, and it's appreciated by our communities. It's so popular that in Tangney each and every round is oversubscribed. I want to give you some statistics. In the 2017-18 Local Sporting Champions program, 126 local young athletes worked with their families to apply for only 36 grants available for the Tangney electorate. Recent rounds saw 53 applications for 22 available grants, and 35 applications for just six grants in the electorate of Tangney. Tangney athletes are very fortunate to receive 12 extra grants in the reallocation process, but 78 young athletes in Tangney who trained hard and applied effort still missed out.

There is such high demand in my community for these very important grants because the $500 Local Sporting Champions grants are a real financial support to these young athletes and their families. Athletes set their sights on national and international competitions. They train hard and ask families and friends for support, including financial support, to get them to competitions. Mums and dads and volunteers put so much time into their sporting clubs—running teams, doing rosters, coaching and umpiring. This $500 federal contribution means a lot when families are juggling the big costs of travel and competition—especially to those from electorates like Deputy Speaker Hastie's and my own, in Western Australia, when they balance their expenses. This government has supported such a wide variety of athletes in Tangney, including athletes participating in soccer, sailing, rugby, weightlifting, ice skating, hockey, cricket and rowing. At my Local Sporting Champions afternoon tea, hosted at my office, we have celebrated participation and achievements in basketball, badminton, cycling, volleyball and calisthenics. It's a real highlight to hear each of the athletes share their stories, compare training and share tips.

As part of the Local Sporting Champions review with the Australian Sports Commission, I made a submission asking for this important program to be expanded further and for fairer consideration of support for athletes that fly longer distances to compete. I'll give you one example. Young sportsmen and sportswomen travelling from my electorate on long flights to an event, for example, here in Canberra, with all their excess baggage full of equipment for their national competition, get the same $500 grant as kids that come from Sydney. Do you know the cost of a bus fare from Sydney? It is $64 return. Yet those kids from Sydney can get the same $500 grant as kids from electorates in Western Australia. So my submission included feedback from Tangney sporting clubs and young athletes who wanted to highlight the real cost differentials in relation to their expenses and also thank the government for the difference that the contribution makes.

Some of the best news in the federal budget for the young athletes in my electorate and for those who are passionate about local sport was the expansion of the Local Sporting Champions grants program. In my community, it's something we've been campaigning for. There has been a 56 per cent increase to this important program in the budget. On current funding, that represents 3,000 additional young athletes from across Australia, including Tangney, who will receive federal government support to attend these important competitions. I want to make sure the extra grants go to young athletes like the ones in Tangney, who, to compete, fly long distances at great cost compared to people who drive or catch a bus between eastern state capitals. The expansion of this important grant program is a great opportunity to support those young athletes who have the greatest need. A fairer distribution of grants that better factors in the distance of the competition will keep more young competitors involved in sport, competing at national and international levels.

Our Local Sporting Champions grant recipients are the next generation of world champions, and set ambitious goals. I want to make sure that we do everything we can to make their dreams of representing Australia come true. The extension of the Local Sporting Champions grants program is a great start which will keep more young competitors involved in sport and help them achieve their full potential. Can the minister update us on the increased funding in the budget for local sporting champions? Can the minister please confirm that this increase will support more WA and more Tangney athletes in their travel to international and national sporting competitions.

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