Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games committees in $50m funding fight with AIS
A row has erupted between Sport Australia and the country’s three peak sporting bodies over $50 million and it’s likely going to need some federal government intervention to get it sorted.
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Exasperated sports executives have called on the federal government to intervene in a row with the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) over how to carve up public funds to athletes and coaches preparing for international competitions coming up in the next two years.
Australia’s Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games committees have accused the AIS of breaking their promise on the agreement that was struck to secure an extra $50 million of taxpayer’s money.
But Sport Australia officials – who allocate most of the funds through the AIS – argue that the existing funding model needs updating and there’s no better time than right now to fix it, even if that was never part of the original agreement.
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“It’s an unprecedented issue and unavoidable consequence of the delay in the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics,” Sport Australia chairman John Wylie said.
“We understand sport’s concern but if all you ever do is just roll over and lock in existing funding, then the sports that have a case to get a bigger share of the pie, it never happens.”
The chief executives of Australia’s three peak bodies – the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC), Paralympics Australia (PA) and Commonwealth Games Australia (CGA) – all disagree.
They insist that any proposed changes to the funding model should be put on hold until there was more certainty about the economy and the extra $50 million that the government pledged should be given to struggling sporting bodies so they can survive the next two years.
“No-one is saying there shouldn’t be models or requirements in place, but the point is these are not normal times so there’s no need to introduce a new funding model at the moment,” AOC chief executive Matt Carroll said.
“We just said let’s just park the introduction of a new funding model for now and let’s just get the money out to the sports so they can manage their businesses and get on with what they need to do, but that’s falling on deaf ears.”
The feud centres around what to do with the second instalment of the $50 million of taxpayer’s cash, which the government announced in June.
The original deal was that the sports would split the first $25 million over the current financial year, then get the same funding allocations over the 2021-22 financial year, combining to cover next year’s rescheduled Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Beijing and the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, UK.
But once the money came through, the AIS notified sports that while the first $25 million would be distributed as promised, the second payment would be reviewed and based on projected performances.
In a letter that was sent to SA and AIS executives and federal sports Minister Richard Colbeck last Wednesday – that has been seen by News Corp Australia – sporting bodies said that was completely unrealistic in the midst of COVID-19.
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“To talk of performance trajectories while there is no certainty on how and when Olympic/Paralympic Games qualification events are to be staged, is not dealing with the real world,” the letter said.
“The Sports have advised the AIS that they are not convinced the process is fair, transparent or robust and there is a lack of a coherent overarching plan that is understood by all.”
Another top sports executive questioned why Wylie was changing the funding model just as he was about to stand down from his role in November, instead of letting the incoming chairman deal with ongoing financial matters.
Wylie said all the money that had been provided would go into sports.
““We can guarantee that the full $25 million of additional high performance top up funding that was committed by the government will be distributed to the sector,” he said.
“There are balancing factors and we understand completely the natural desire of sports to want to get certainty about funding as soon as possible.
“But equally, there’s sections in the system that want to see a new funding model introduced for the Paris Olympics and Paralympic Games cycle.”
Minister Colbeck said the government would not interfere in how the funding was distributed.
“The Government sets the overall funding parameters, however it would be unprecedented for the Government to direct the AIS on how that funding is distributed,” Colbeck said.
“It is the Government’s understanding that the AIS’s process will be completed very soon which will give all sports plenty of advance time to plan post Tokyo.”