AUSCYCLING —
SPORT AUSTRALIA
610. Hon PETER COLLIER to the
Leader of the House representing the Minister for Sport and Recreation:
I have my two questions and
questions for three other members.
I refer the minister to the move by
Sport Australia to develop an AusCycling model for cycling, whereby the sport
would be amalgamated at a national level into a single entity and all
administration, control and future funding would be centralised in a central
office.
(1) Does the minister support the
decision by WestCycle not to join this amalgamated body?
(2) If no to (1), why not?
(3) When the amalgamation is finalised, will this have
consequences for Western Australian cyclists regarding national and
international team selection and funding?
(4) If yes to (3), what are these
consequences?
Hon SUE
ELLERY replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1) Yes. This
presents a significant risk to the sport of cycling in Western Australia. The
model proposed by Sport Australia and AusCycling is to consolidate the entirety
of the sport—cycling, BMX and mountain biking—on the east
coast. This will potentially include any funding and assets held by WestCycle
and all strategic decision-making.
(2) Not applicable.
(3) Yes.
(4) Western Australian
cyclists would need to be an individual member of AusCycling to compete in
national competitions. The state government understands that there is still an
opportunity for WestCycle to fulfil the role
as the WA representative of AusCycling so as not to disrupt Western Australian
members, but it has been informed
that this proposal has been rejected by AusCycling. Without a Western Australian
representative body—WestCycle—all critical decisions on
athlete pathways and competitions would be made from interstate, without local
consideration.