ANIKA WELLS MP
MINISTER FOR AGED CARE
MINISTER FOR SPORT

TRANSCRIPT - SBS SPORT - 27 MARCH 2025

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TV INTERVIEW
SBS SPORT
THURSDAY, 27 MARCH 2025

SUBJECTS: $250 million for AIS Revitalisation; Brisbane 2032 Olympics and Paralympics; Women in Sport; Funding for Paralympians.

ADRIAN ARCIULI, SBS SPORT LEAD REPORTER: Anika, thanks for joining us.

ANIKA WELLS, MINISTER FOR SPORT: A pleasure.

ARCIULI: So, Budget season now. We're about to transition into election season. How do you look back on the three years of Labor Government so far and the wins and losses that's been chalked up for Australian sport during your tenure?

WELLS: It's been a bonza term for Australian sport. There has never been more investment from a federal government into Australian sport than this term. Almost a billion dollars in one year. We also put in $250 million to revitalise the AIS, our national sporting centre of excellence and paralympic centre of excellence that lay unfinished, too hard basket for so long. The Federal Government, we've actually got in there, worked out how to fix it, and fixed it.

ARCIULI: What's your vision for the next three years for Australian sport? Obviously, the runway to Brisbane for 2032, but there's other major events coming. There's a women's Asian Cup, there's the Rugby World Cup. Just talk to us about the next 3 years and the goals that would be, if you were successful regarding re-election.

WELLS: I think the way I can be most helpful as the Federal Minister for Sport, to Australian sport, is to try and get the settings right, because it's ultimately our athletes and their support teams, like coaches and support staff who give their best for the country, but they need the settings to be right. That means thinking really thoughtfully about what money is needed when, and working back from goals like athletes do, working around a four-year performance cycle or whatever, where the money has to go in in order for things to be ready in time.

ARCIULI: There is still a long way to go when it comes to gender equality, true gender equality in Australian sport in terms of payments and funding. Just talk to us about all of that.

WELLS: I'll be the first to say that Australian sport is not gender equal - it is not - and we shouldn't pretend that it is. When I talk about how I contribute, how I add value and get getting the settings right, one of the things we did this term was make governance, make boards for sporting organisations, a 50/50 gender requirement. I know a lot of people said that did spur them into action. A lot of women contacted me to say, thank the lord, someone's done it.

ARCIULI: Kirsty Coventry, IOC President. What have your dealings been with her in the past? It must be so exciting to see the first ever female IOC President after this many years.

WELLS: Oh, brilliant! One of my dealings with her, I congratulated her on the birth of her baby, recently, probably some months ago now. It’s just wonderful to see another female sport minister excelling and to have an IOC President who's been elected with the view that she will continue through Brisbane 2032, having most recently overseen the IOCs work on Brisbane 2032. With the intimate knowledge of our town and what we're trying to do, it’s the best possible outcome, I think.

ARCIULI: What will it look like, success for you, in terms of the event as a whole, but success on the field, but also success off the field. How will you think? How will you judge it?

WELLS: For me, it will be whether we can top the medal tally for the Paralympics in Brisbane. We topped it in Sydney. We dropped to eighth in Paris, but it's really a priority for the Prime Minister and I to try and get back to number one again. We've doubled the funding for Paralympic sport, we know every one out of four Australians with a disability play sport, but three out of four, we want to give them that opportunity. I think that would be a transformative outcome if we could top the medal tally in Brisbane with our Paralympian’s.

ARCIULI: Minister Wells, thanks very much for your time.

WELLS: Pleasure.

ENDS