Our purpose

Sport Australia promotes and supports the development of a cohesive national sport sector that creates opportunities for all Australians to participate and excel in sport and physical activity.

In the ASC Corporate Plan 2017–21, our purpose is to strengthen Australian sport to enable more people to play sport and Australian athletes to succeed on the world stage.

This section reports on results achieved during 2017–18 against the purpose and performance criteria published in the ASC’s Corporate Plan 2017–21 and the Portfolio Budget Statements 2017–18. The Corporate Plan 2017–21 provided for three key focus areas across high performance, participation and sport industry growth.

  • High Performance
    Leading and enabling a united high performance system that supports Australian athletes to achieve podium success.
    Sport Australia works with sports and the high performance sector to achieve sustainable and ethical international success through
    leadership, expertise, world-class service delivery, research and investment.
  • Participation
    More Australians— particularly young Australians—participating more often.
    To achieve this, Sport Australia drives lifelong participation with a focus on physical literacy and our national participation program, Sporting Schools. Sport Australia works to better understand the changing sport  environment and support the network that supplies sport—our sporting organisations.
  • Sport Industry Growth
    Sports have the structure, workforce and leadership capacity to develop and run successful sport programs.
    To achieve this, Sport Australia works across the sector to build capability in the areas of governance; product development and
    commercial sustainability; workforce development; coaching and officiating; digital capability; and member and child protection in sport.

In 2017–18, work across these three focus areas has shaped Sport Australia’s approach to achieving its outcome under the 2017–18 Portfolio Budget Statements.

OUTCOME 1: Increased participation in organised sport and continued international sporting success including through leadership and development of a cohesive and effective sports sector, provision of targeted financial support, and the operation of the Australian Institute of Sport.