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Australian Sports Commission




The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) is the Australian Government body that coordinates the Australian Government’s commitment and contribution to Sport . It provides national leadership in all facets of sport from the elite level through to the wider sporting community.

The ASC is a statutory authority of the Australian Government, that is governed by a board of Commissioners appointed by the Government. The ASC's roles and responsibilities are prescribed in the Australian Sports Commission Act 1989 . In 2004/05 the Government portion of the ASC's budget was .794m. In addition, the ASC generated an additional A$24.812m in revenue from corporate sources such as sponsorship, hire of facilities and interest, from external sources such as Government departments and agencies, and from national sporting organisations.

The ASC attempts to promote an effective national sports system that offers improved participation in quality sports by all Australians. In addition, the ASC helps those who are talented and motivated to reach their potential excellence in sports performance. The ASC achieves these objectives by administering and funding national sporting programs on behalf of the Government and providing leadership, co-ordination and support for the sport sector.

The ASC works closely with a range of national sporting organisations, state and local governments, schools and community organisations to ensure sport is well run and accessible so that everyone can participate and enjoy the benefits. The ASC supports participation in sport, from grass roots participation to participation at the elite level. The ASC deliverers it services through four divisions:

  • The Australian Institute Of Sport (AIS) is the most well known division of the ASC. The AIS offers over 700 scholarships to talented junior and senior athletes accross 26 different sports. The insititue also offers athletes access to expert coaching, world-leading sports science and sports medicine services, state-of-the-art sports facilities, and opportunities for travel, work and study.


  • The Sport Performance and Development division supports the development of the Australian sport system from the grassroots community level to high performance sport. This division provides national sporting organisations access to advice and resources, including funding, policy development advice and management models, education, emerging information technologies and evaluation frameworks.


  • The ""Corporate Services"" and ""Commercial and Facilities"" divisions provide corporate infrastructure support for the organisation, including corporate governance and management of communications and information services, corporate research, corporate commercial activities and our international program.



Active After-school Communities program

Ever aware of growing public concern about the growing number of Australian children who are overweight or obese, the Australian Government launched the " Building a Healthy, Active Australia " package. This package was established to combat declining physical activity levels and poor eating habits amongst Australian children. Over A$115 million was ear-marked for the packaged, with the bulk of that funding allocated to the Australian Sports Commission's Active After-school Communities program.

The Active After-school Communities (AASC) program is an after-school program where children can participate in free structured physical activities. The program is being delivered around Australia through primary schools or government approved child care centres.

The AASC program was piloted in Term 1, 2005, and was rolled out nationally in Term 2, 2005. in 2005, over 1,400 schools and child care centres were participating in the AASC program. This number is projected to rise to 3,250 by 2007. All-in-all, over 150,000 children are projected to be involved in the program.

The AASC program is currently funded until the end of 2007.