Sport and the General Election

Sport and the General Election
On Saturday 26 November we will all have the chance to cast our vote on who we want to represent us in Parliament. Policies on sport and recreation are not often front of mind when making that decision, but as we believe our readers have an interest in those areas, we wanted to find out what the major parties planned to implement if elected. We contacted the ACT, Green, Labour, Maori, Mana and National parties and asked them if they wished to give us a statement on their sport and recreation policies. At the time of publishing we had received the statements below.

ACT
ACT supports all community volunteers and especially those that make a difference and Community Sports and Clubs really do make a difference, as a “Kid in Sport is a Kid out of Court”.
We do not have a Sport and Recreation Policy but are impressed with Regional Initiatives like the combined Sports Model in Papatoetoe and see this as a way of the future. We do see issues around larger community participation with Grounds and these need to be addressed by Local Government in the First Instance.
At Regional Level we seek various aspects of duplication and waste that we would like to see addressed so that the money spent is actually received at the “Coal Face” where it makes a real difference.
At Elite Level Sport we see the benefit of the National Pride shown as witnessed by the Rugby World Cup and see a future Role in Funding Elite Level Sports.”
John Thompson- ACT Spokesman for Sport and Recreation

Green
The Green Party is an enthusiastic and consistent supporter of sport and recreation, nationally and in Waitakere. Physical activity is a critical component of both physical and mental wellbeing, one of the Greens’ key overall goals, with a by-product of reduced health service cost.
We’ve got great rugby, soccer and netball clubs as well as all variety of team and individual sports options as part of our Westie heritage. We are particularly fortunate in West Auckland to have fantastic bush and wilderness tracks to explore the Waitakere ranges as well as some of the best surf breaks and sea kayaking in New Zealand.
The greens are strong supporters of outdoor recreation and have very strong relationships with organisations like Federated Mountain Clubs of New Zealand, Mountain Bike New Zealand, and White water NZ.
It is worth noting that the New Zealand Cycle Trail network project is a joint project of the Green and National parties, making good progress towards the longstanding Green Party goal of a national network of cycling tracks, touring routes, and urban cycling infrastructure.
Stephen Tollestrup, Green Party Candidate Waitakere Electorate.

Labour
Sport and recreation is an important part of the cultural fabric of our nation and our national identity. Sport and recreation binds our communities, our regions, and our country. We are an active, sporting people. Getting New Zealanders participating in sport and recreation activities has huge benefits for our health and wellbeing, and achieving in sport and recreation strengthens our national pride.
The health, social, and economic benefits of a high level of participation in sport and recreation activities have widespread flow-on effects in our communities. Labour will continue to invest in community sport and recreation so that our local clubs and Sports Trusts thrive.Labour recognises that sport is an important part of education. The skills and teamwork learnt through sport are beneficial in many other areas of learning and development, and the health benefits are significant. We will look into how schools and clubs together can better facilitate regular midweek sport, and encourage the extension of that to weekend sport.
You can view Labour’s Sport and Recreation policy on: www.ownourfuture.co.nz
Sarah Key, Office of Trevor Mallard, Labour spokesperson for Sport and Recreation.

Maori

• Establish a National Māori Sports Federation: Te Tira Rangaranga ā Rēhia with funding to assist Māori sports achievers at a national level and support Māori sporting codes to be self-sustaining.
• Marae sports / papa tākaro: work with the Māori Sports Federation to enable marae to be a community sports and physical activity hub.
• Invest in the funding of youth co-ordinators and sports coaches to enable a wider range of afterschool activities for school-aged children.
• Support funding for Māori women’s rugby and advocacy for the Māori All Blacks for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
• Promote water safety skills including community swimming pools, increasing accessibility.

National

Revamped High Performance Sport

• Established High Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ) by merging the SPARChigh performance unit with the two New Zealand Academies of Sport.
• HPSNZ is developing high performance athletes and world-class training facilities in partnerships with the private sector.

Built high performance facilities

• $15 million towards the expansion of the Millennium Institute in Auckland, to become the National Training Centre for High Performance Sport.
• High Performance Centre for Rowing at Lake Karapiroopened in time for the World Rowing Championships in October 2010.
  

Invested in schools and regional sports trusts & established Kiwisport

• We’ve transferred funding away from SPARC and into schools and regional sports trusts.
• National set up and funded Kiwisport–involving clubs, schools and community groups to support sport for school-aged children.
• Under Kiwisport, primary schools receive $6 million on a per capita basis, as will secondary schools from 2012.
• Regional Sports Trusts will also receive over $8 million of new money as part of Kiwisport.

Hosted a great Rugby World Cup

• After years of planning Rugby World Cup 2011 had the best outcome we could have hoped for, both on and off the field
• The Cup is expected to inject $700 million into New Zealand’s economy.
• Invested $9.5 million of lotteries funding in the REAL New Zealand Festival.to help communities play a major part in the Cup.
• The 175 public events included concerts, festivals, exhibitions, and sports competitions from every corner of New Zealand.
• Created the NZ 2011 Business Club to connect local business hosts with international business people for the tournament.
• More than 5000 volunteers helped to make the cup a wonderful experience for everyone.
  

Upgraded regional stadiums
Upgraded our regional sport stadiums: Eden Park, Dunedin, Whangarei, Nelson and Southland. This was in preparation for Rugby World Cup 2011, and to ensure our regional sports stadia can support our future sporting needs.

Sports Scholarships
The Prime Minister’s Sport Scholarships invested $4.25 million annually in athletes, coaches, support team members and officials awarded scholarships.
We are strengthening our sporting ties with India through a sports scholarship programme.

The Great Rides cycle trails
In Budget 2009 we committed $50 million over three years to this project for trails all over New Zealand.
Authorised by Tau Henare, 1/269 Te Atatu Rd, Te Atatu South