Qld Academy of Sport could go independent after structural review

The biggest change in the 33-year history of Queensland’s major sporting body could be afoot following calls from some heavy hitters in the field.

The Queensland Academy of Sport is headquartered at the Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre in Brisbane’s south.

The Queensland Academy of Sport could become independent, with the government undertaking a structural review of the institution after sporting heavyweights – including NRL coaching great Wayne Bennett – called for an urgent overhaul.

Queensland’s leading institute for elite athletes was thrust into the spotlight in February after a group of high-powered sporting greats raised fears the state’s medal chances and high-performance strategy was being strangled by bureaucratic red-tape.

The Courier-Mail can reveal that two months after Premier Steven Miles met with the group – which included former QAS chair and Olympic gold-medallist Renita Garard and QAS founding director Wilma Shakespear – the government has decided to undertake a structural review of the elite sporting institution.

Sport Minister Michael Healy said the QAS had been part of the Queensland government since it was formed in 1991, with more than 500 of the state’s elite athletes training in the “world-class facility” annually.

“This independent review is about putting structures in place to get the best outcomes for our high-performance athletes, coaches and support staff,” he said, with the review expected to be completed by July.

While an independent reviewer was yet to be appointed, a government spokesman said someone with recent relevant experience would be chosen, and it would be ensured the process would not impact the preparations of QAS athletes in the lead-up to the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics.

Legendary NRL coach Wayne Bennett

The spokesman also said key stakeholders would be consulted throughout the review including current and former staff of the Department of Tourism and Sport, including the QAS, current and former members of the QAS advisory board, and senior sports administrators, and that the outcomes would support the QAS vision of “inspiring extraordinary sporting success”.

“The Queensland government wants to establish a best-practice model that will support Queensland’s elite athletes, and the next generations of sports stars, leading up to the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games and beyond,” he said.

The pressure for the government to overhaul the structure of QAS and make it independent came shortly after shock departure of London Games “gold medal maker” Chelsea Warr as chief executive of QAS, and the subsequent resignation of Ms Garard.

QAS currently sits under the Department of Tourism and Sport, but some have expressed fears the academy was struggling to retain their highly respected current staff, and could soon fail to attract the world’s best to train future sporting greats if the system stayed bogged down in red tape.

Mr Bennett said at the time elite sport could not run with severe government constraints.

“The Brisbane Olympics will be one of this state’s finest hours. But we need to bring our athletes’ ability to fruition for those Games. If we are winning nothing and not performing it will be a disaster,” he said.

“The tragedy of the AIS and the QAS is that other countries have copied us and if we don’t be careful, they will do it better than us.

“I know in coaching where I have just been able to do my job it works – anywhere I have gone where people prevent me from doing my job it just gets very hard.’’