More speeches

Doorstop - Announcement of the 2010 Paralympic team Parliament House, Canberra - 25 November 2009

25 November 2009

Journalist: Inaudible

Kate Ellis: I want to make it clear that we are committed to increasing government support for Olympic and Paralympic sport and also community sport over time.

This whole process that we're going through has always been about strengthening Australian sport. We're not interested in divisive debates about taking from one and giving to another, we want the whole sector to be thriving. We think that they're both incredibly important  elite sport and grassroots sport and I want to work with the sector to make sure they remain very strong into the future.

Journalist: Are you still hearing what the Crawford Report is saying which is that you should look at the bias for Olympic and Paralympic sports?

Kate Ellis: Well I've looked at the recommendations of the Crawford report and there is no recommendation to cut funding for elite sport. There's no recommendation to cut funding for paralympic sport but as I've said the Crawford Report is an independent inquiry and the Government will now be working with our sporting stakeholders and responding early in the new year.

Journalist: Were you surprised by some of the reactions from John Coates? He came out quite strongly &

Kate Ellis: Well I think one of the great things about Australia as a sports mad nation is that we're incredibly passionate. We've got incredibly passionate fans of sport. We've got incredible passionate athletes and we've got incredibly passionate sporting administrators. And that's one of the things that gives us such a robust and strong system. I know that people have strong opinions on this and we want to work with all of those stakeholders. The Government has not adopted any of the recommendations in the inquiry. We'll be working with the stakeholders and responding in due course.

Journalist: When you say stakeholders does that mean people like Greg (Hartung) and John Coates?

Kate Ellis: Absolutely.

Journalist: How soon are you meeting them?

Kate Ellis: Well I'm meeting with Greg in about ten minutes (all laughing) and as I've said previously, I've spoken to John Coates both on the day the report was released but also when I received the inquiry to say I'd like to sit down and work through the report with him and the recommendations with him and have discussions and debate and respond after hearing his input and I look forward to doing that in coming weeks.

More speeches