ABSTRACT
As was noted in the previous chapter, in 2001 the Commonwealth Government introduced its new sport policy, which was titled Backing Australia’s Sporting Ability: A More Active Australia (BASA) (Commonwealth of Australia, 2001). Like earlier sport policies, BASA aimed to strike a balance between elite, or high-performance sport, and community sport development. The policy formulation process was particularly challenging, since two opposing factors had to be dealt with. First, Shaping Up effectively recommended a much larger allocation of funds to community sport, local clubs, and programmes aimed at getting more people involved in regular physical activity. Second, Australia’s success at the Olympics showed what could be done when funds were given to high-performance sport, and how this success generated a great sense of national pride and self-esteem.
