Principles
The NSW Greens believe:
- Recreation and sport are necessary for the maintenance of good mental and physical health and are important in the development of social, organisational and communication skills.
- Sporting and recreational facilities, services and infrastructure should be affordable available to everyone.
- Community sporting clubs should promote and encourage inclusion and participation throughout the community.
- The integrity of sport should be encouraged by sound and transparent governance structures.
- Unregulated or insufficiently regulated sports betting poses a threat to the integrity of professional sport.
Aims
The NSW Greens will work towards:
Equity in sport
- Ensuring all spheres of government provide access to sport and recreation facilities and services for participants with gender, age, disability, linguistic, cultural or religious requirements.
- Promoting women’s sport including support for the professionalisation of women’s competitions and more equitable media coverage.
- Providing adequate short-term childcare facilities to increase the participation of women and gender diverse people in sport.
- Providing access in local government areas for people with disabilities to participate in a broad range of recreational facilities, particularly outdoor and adventure opportunities.
- Developing the potential of people with disabilities and securing sufficient funding for training youth with disabilities.
- Promoting the inclusion of transgender and gender diverse people in all community and professional sport.
- Supporting the Australian Human Rights Commission Guidelines for the inclusion of transgender and gender diverse people in sport.
- Recognising and supporting the work of organisations like Proud to Play, Pride in Sport and the Pride Cup along with local inclusive community sport initiatives, to ensure broad participation and inclusion in sport for the LGBTIQ+ community.
- Resourcing of physical recreation and sports participation activities for First Nations communities to be a priority.
- Establishing First Nations sporting clinics in remote First Nations communities and providing resources to create culturally appropriate physical activities for First Nations youth.
- The provision of programs and a supportive environment for First Nations children to participate in sport, and First Nations communities being provided with adequate resources to create culturally appropriate physical activities for First Nations youth.
- Ensuring membership fees and costs to participation in sport are structured so as to not be barriers for those of low income.
- Provide a publicly-funded rebate system to ensure full subsidies for sports equipment and costs of participation for children under 18.
Integrity in sport
- Encouraging governance structures and financial structures in sporting organisations and associations to ensure integrity in all sporting codes.
- Educating school students, sporting institutes, clubs and services on the problem of drugs in sport.
- Ensuring that the identification and development of talented athletes includes caring, educational and vocational support of the athlete.
- Adopting codes of practice in sport that discourage racial abuse, acts of violent or antisocial behaviour and discrimination.
- Achieving equal opportunity in the field of competitive sport.
- Restricting advertising and sponsoring of sports events by alcohol companies and banning advertising and sponsoring by gambling companies.
- Protecting the welfare of all animals used within the sporting industry.
Community sporting and recreation facilities
- Prioritising grassroots-level decision-making in sport and recreation, with local government playing a pivotal role in the provision, maintenance and planning for well-resourced and safe facilities in each local government area.
- Ensuring that target sports are regulated for community safety.
- Prioritising funding to local community sporting organisations and facilities above commercial sporting facilities.
- Staging of sporting events and the building of sporting facilities to minimise environmental impact.
Sport education
- Encouraging all children to participate in physical activity, with schools assisting in establishing fitness habits as a part of a continuing healthy lifestyle.
- Incorporating Health/Physical Education/Sport as integral components of the K-12 school curriculum to be taught by trained teaching staff and not outsourced to private providers.
- Providing ample and varied opportunities for participation in competitive and non-competitive sports, where recreation or physical activity is the primary motivation.
Water safety
- Ensuring that all primary school students are taught swimming and basic water survival skills.
- Expanding community learn-to-swim and water safety programs.
- Developing strategies to reduce death by drowning in pools, dams, rivers, and the ocean.
- Introducing an on-going program of water safety awareness targeted at in-bound tourists, including appropriate signage, to reduce accidents and fatalities.
- Providing adequate funding for local councils and water safety organisations to support their activities in reducing accidents and fatalities.
Recreational shooting
- Ending hunting and shooting in national parks, state forests, nature reserves and state conservation areas by individuals licensed by the Game and Feral Animal Control Act (GFAC program).
Last revised August 2023.