Mr CHRIS HARTCHER (Terrigal) [12.36 p.m.]: Currently there are 11 regional academies of sport in New South Wales, one of them being located in my area on the Central Coast.

I was contacted by the Central Coast Academy of Sport after it was notified by the Iemma Government that enhancement funding in the 2008-09 budget would be cut by $500,000, effectively reducing each of the 11 regional academies' budgets by 33 per cent.

Officially launched in 2004, the Central Coast Academy of Sport provides opportunities for athletes, coaches, administrators, officials, sports science practitioners and other sports-related parties. The academy also provides specialist support to athletic performance through the interaction of sports medicine disciplines and provides sport education for athletes, coaches, administrators and officials.

As a not-for-profit organisation, the Central Coast Academy of Sport has been positioned to ensure that the sports industry of the region has an opportunity to fully develop skills and expertise. The opportunities for future developments for sport on the Central Coast are unlimited and the academy is the vehicle to capture these opportunities and provide for the region's developing talents. Each of the regional academies assists in the development and enrichment of the local community through the identification and development of children who demonstrate emerging sports talent. Their work also extends to strengthening local sport networks by developing coaches and other volunteers.

Collectively, the members of the academies of sport support more than 2,500 school-aged children and more than 500 sports coaches. Nationally, the regional academy network forms an important step in the endorsed athlete identification and development pathway structure. The Central Coast Academy of Sport, under managing director Ian Robilliard, who in my opinion does an outstanding job, currently features sports such as golf, rugby union, netball, surf lifesaving, football, basketball, tennis, athletics, surfing, lawn bowls and speed skating. Since 2005, funding to each of the rural academies has been $130,000. This has allowed the academies to deliver substantial sporting services to their respective communities.

Given that we have all been engrossed recently with the success of the Olympic games in Beijing, now is not the time to be cutting funding to sporting bodies. As of now the Iemma Government has put these academies on notice and has proposed to cut the funding by $500,000. There is a responsibility of government to give continuing financial support for organisations such as the academies. Given increases in diabetes and obesity among young Australians, organisations that encourage and enable young people to be active, healthy and involved in individual sports and team sports should be supported by the Government. The impact of proposed funding cuts to the Central Coast Academy of Sport will be significant. Sports programs will be lost, many young athletes will not have the opportunity to advance their skills, the ability to support our athletes to the highly successful academy games will be placed in a tenuous position, the elite pathway to the New South Wales Institute of Sport will be impacted upon, disadvantaged groups will not be catered for, and the Central Coast Academy of Sport will have to reduce staffing levels.

Again it is the Central Coast taking the brunt of budgetary cuts. The Central Coast makes up more than 5 per cent of the State's population, with over 300,000 people, and the population is expected to increase by another 60,000 over the next 20 years. When compared with the Australian Capital Territory, which has a population similar to the Central Coast population of 330,000, the Australian Capital Territory Government allocated $5 million a year for four years for sporting and recreation. That is considerably more than its Labor counterparts in New South Wales offered to the Central Coast. Regional academies have been asked to prepare a business case for Treasury by the end of September detailing why enhancement funding that was cut should be reinstated. The Central Coast Academy of Sport has written to all Central Coast members of Parliament seeking their support. As the member for Terrigal, I am happy to give my support.

I invite the member for The Entrance, the member for Gosford and the member for Wyong to give their support and to lobby their Minister. This is an opportunity for them to stand up for the young people in their electorates, to stand up for sporting bodies on the Central Coast, to stand up for future Olympians and to stand up to their Labor mates and demand that more money be allocated to the Academy of Sports on the Central Coast. Recently, the Treasurer, Mr Costa, said a lot about funding for New South Wales. The people of New South Wales demand that they receive the support of Treasury through the State Government. The opportunity is now open to Mr Costa to give genuine support to sportspeople, to young people and to the people on the Central Coast.