Page 1265 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 3 April 2019
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Curriculum in partnership with Sport Australia, including review of the current Sporting Schools program;
(c) the ACT Government currently provides more than $1.6 million in operational funding per year to the major peak sporting bodies;
(d) the ACT Government also provides further funding of approximately $860 000 per year to sport and recreation organisations for capital works/infrastructure, community sport and recreation development projects, the sports loan subsidy scheme, inclusive program funding and the Minister’s emergency and supplementary program;
(e) ACT schools from all sectors share in a total of $1.7 million in government funding to access content from sport activity providers through the Sporting Schools program;
(f) the ACT Government currently provides up to $400 000 a year towards the Aqua Safe Program, delivered in partnership with Royal Life Saving ACT, to provide all year two students in public schools with a holistic mix of water awareness, survival and rescue skills, and water safety knowledge; and
(g) the ACT Government has also invested in programs to support children and young people at school to make healthy choices and live active lives, through programs including Fresh Tastes, It’s your Move and the Ride or Walk to School program, and funds programs such as Food&ME and It’s Your Move Safe Cycle to support nutrition education and cycling skills; and
(3) Calls on the ACT Government to:
(a) continue the work outlined in paragraph 2; and
(b) report back to the Assembly by the last sitting day in 2019 about progress on the work outlined in paragraph 2.”.
MR RATTENBURY (Kurrajong) (11.46): I am pleased to have this opportunity to discuss the issue of physical education in ACT schools and I am glad that Ms Lee brought this forward for discussion in the Assembly today. Regular physical activity is an important contributor to good health and wellbeing for everyone in our community. It is particularly important during the school years because we have an opportunity to instil in our children good habits and a love of being active from a young age.
With those habits established early, they are then more likely to continue them into adulthood. Some describe this as the notion of physical literacy, and that is the idea that if you have confidence in how to do an activity then you will be more likely to go and do it. I think that is a very simple principle but one that makes a lot of sense. Obviously giving young people that belief that they can jump on a bike or go to a gym and do those sorts of things is a very valuable thing to do.
As Ms Lee outlined in her opening remarks, the latest statistics on some of these issues in Australia are ones that we need to be very focused on. When it comes to rates of physical activity across our community, the figures are concerning, to say the least. Data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare released last year found that just 30 per cent of children and 44 per cent of adults meet the national
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