Constant cash for clubs not the right way, says politics expert

AS federal election campaign pledges to sporting facilities across the Geelong region hit $22.16m, a senior politics lecturer at Deakin University says the commitments aren’t good use of federal funds because the money is promised without a “clear process of assessment”.

Deakin senior politics lecturer Geoff Robinson said spending on sports clubs should be the domain of local and state governments. Football, netball and cricket clubs, including those at Leopold, Belmont and Barwon Heads, have received promises from the Labor or Liberal parties worth more than $1m each.

Labor has also pledged $6m for an indoor centre at Armstrong Creek for basketball, netball, badminton and volleyball, while commitments for clubs at Ocean Grove, Bannockburn, Torquay and Newcomb have topped $500,000 each to redevelop change rooms to include female-friendly facilities.

In making the promises during the election campaign, both parties have said the money would cater to growing participation in sport, particularly women’s sport.

So far during the campaign, $18.96m has been pledged for sporting facilities in the Corangamite electorate, which is among the most marginal seats in the country.

In contrast, $3.2m has been pledged in the Corio electorate, held by Labor’s Richard Marles on a 10.3 per cent margin.

Dr Robinson said political factors guided the distribution of these grants.

“I don’t think it's a good thing from a public policy viewpoint … because it is spending money without a clear process of assessment or clearly linked to achievable goals in the health area,” Dr Robinson said.

“My argument would be levels of government that are closer to the ground would have a better idea of needs in that area.

“Having a system of discretionary federal government funding doesn’t seem to me to be the best way of going about it.

“(Sports funding) is good for health and physical activity, but I’m a bit sceptical about the argument that the best way to do that is for the federal government to drop money from on high on particular sporting clubs.”

Dr Robinson said most voters were concerned about national issues rather than funding for sporting clubs when voting at a federal election.

“I think it is about specific policy issues, about competency, likability of the leadership and overall management of the country.

“MPs are always trying to impress their local community and boost their local profile.

“(Money for sports clubs) is potentially one way of being seen to do that.”