FOUR days before the state government announced its $100 rebate for children playing sport, Paul and Tracey Boyd were in The Gazette office, wondering why governments did not do more to encourage children to play sport.
In an odd coincidence, the pair from Richmond Ex-Servicemens Soccer Club bemoaned the fact that the rising cost of playing sport was precluding some families from taking part, only to hear four days later the government had put in motions plans to do exactly what their suggestion was.
They were of the opinion that in an age where many Australian kids’ waistbands are expanding, getting kids playing sport was an excellent way to combat that.
On June 20, Member for Hawkesbury and Treasurer Dominic Perrottet announced every school aged kids who played a sport would receive a $100 Active Kids Rebate from the government, to help cover the cost of registration fees and buying gear.
From January 1, 2018, parents will be able to claim $100 per child per year back from the government, in an attempt to get more children playing sport.
Richmond Ex-Servicemens Soccer Club president Paul Boyd said he thought governments should have an incentive parents to get their children into sport.
He said the days of paying a flat registration fee were gone, and clubs were under increasing pressure to pay the bills, and were often forced to pass the costs on to the participants in order to stay afloat.
“Registration fees have ballooned out of proportion because of insurance,” he said.
“We have to pay for fields, the levy from the associations, and it all just mounts up, so at the end of the day, if the government gave us a concession, I think you'd find more people playing sport.
“It isn't just soccer. We talk soccer because that is what we do, but there is netball. I talk to people who play netball, and it is enormous the registration, softball is the same, anything they play, it costs an arm and a leg for kids to play sport.”
His wife Tracey said it was an incentive was a simple way to see more active children and fight childhood obesity.
“If you want to get serious about it, let's help them get there,” she said.
“If you want a healthier nation, we think if there was some kind of rebate it may make a difference to a lot of people and a lot of sports.
“It is just something we have thought about a lot over the years.”
Tracey said she was excited when she heard about the state government’s plans.
At the federal level, Member for Macquarie Susan Templeman said over the years the question of tax incentives to play sport had come up, but with no tangible result.
“A tax credit option may be worth considering and in fact was looked at in by a Parliamentary inquiry in 1983 but was rejected because it was felt that direct government spending was fairer and could be more effectively targeted than taxation concessions,” she said.
Ms Templeman said the idea was worthy of consideration.
“Unfortunately, organised sport is out of the reach of a lot of families, and we do need to look at ways to get more kids engaged in regular sport,” she said.
“There is no doubt, these sorts of ideas need to be further explored if we are to address the issue of obesity, which is much cheaper to deal with in the prevention phase than if we wait to deal with the consequences.”
