Australian Sport: The pathway to success (May 2010)

On 11 May 2010, as part of the 2010-11 Budget, the Australian Government announced its new sport policy entitled Australian Sport: The pathway to success, which includes a response to the Crawford Report. The policy is backed by $195 million in extra funding, the largest-ever injection into Australian sport. The new direction aims to increase the numbers of Australians participating in sport, strengthen sporting pathways to link grassroots and high performance sport, and strive for success.

The Future of Sport in Australia (Crawford Report) (Oct 2009)

The Federal Government appointed an independent expert panel to make recommendations on the specific structures, programs and reform required to ensure the continuing robustness of the Australian sport system. The panel addressed 5 specific terms of reference:

• Ensure Australia's continued elite sporting success
• Better place sport and physical activity as a key component of the Government's preventative health approach
• Strengthen pathways from junior sport to grassroots community sport right through to elite and professional sport
• Maintain Australia's cutting edge approach to sports science, research and technology
• Identify opportunities to increase and diversify the funding base for sport through corporate sponsorship, media and any recommended reforms, such as enhancing the effectiveness of the Australian Sports Foundation.

The Panel identified a number of fundamental issues and made a number of recommendations grouped under 8 chapters of the Report:

• Defining our National Sports Vision
• Reforming the Australian Sports Commission to Lead the Sports Systems
• Merging our Institutes of Sport
• Building the Capacity of our National Sporting Organisations
• Putting Sport and Physical Activity Back into Education
• Building Community Sport with People and Places
• Ensuring Australia's Sport System is Open to All
• Sustaining the Funding Base for Sport.

In December 2009 Softball Australia produced a summary of the Implications of the Crawford Report as it relates to our strategic plan.

Too Few Too Much (April 2008)

Too Few Too Much is the result of a request by the Board of Softball Australia for the ASC to conduct an independent examination of the sport in Australia. There was concern about a severe membership decline over several years and (at that time) the pending loss of the sport's participation in the Olympic Games after the 2008 Beijing Games.

The purpose of the review was to provide information that could lead to improvement in the management and delivery of softball nationally through improved cooperation, efficient systems and shared effort.

Softball Australia's 5-year Strategic Plan addresses all the recommendations in Too Few Too Much.