Importance of Government Funding towards Sport.

[Daltron]

Our new Liberal government here in Australia has been making *progress* towards new cabinet and new portfolios for ministers have been announced.

Each portfolio is assigned to a minister and consists of an area of public service in which that minister and the government will spend and cut where necessary and introduce/remove programs for whatever reason. Often portfolio ministers will legislative certain things over the term of the government.

The new Liberal government has completely removed the following portfolios and spending in these areas will be minimal or non existant for the next 4 years:

Science
Climate Change
Aged Care
Higher Education
Early Childhood
Mental Health
Workplace Relations
And has introduced the following, new portfolios:
Border Protection
Sport

What got me thinking was the Sports portfolio. Do you think it's necessary to be spending big on sport at the expense of things such as climate change funding (ie our carbon tax being removed) or higher education which admittedly is probably very well self-funded?

What are your thoughts? Would you be for or against your government in the UK (or wherever else you are) increasing funding for sport in place of other listed areas above? How important is sport and government funding towards it in this day and age?


Note: Our Liberal party is not like your Liberal party/understanding in the UK.

[-:Undertaker:-]

I'd rather the money be spent on sports rather than corrupt climate legislation which benefits wealthy landowners very well but which punishes normal people with increasingly higher utility bills year-on-year. That said still, i'd ideally remove Sport as a Ministry too as I fail to understand why the Government should have much of a big role in sport if any role at all.

In Britain our main ministerial departments are the following.


Attorney General's Office
Cabinet Office
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Any responsibilities transferred to Treasury)
Department for Communities and Local Government
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Department for Education
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Department for International Development
Department for Transport
Department for Work and Pensions (merged into the Treasury)
Department of Energy and Climate Change (Energy merged with Environment)
Department of Health
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Her Majesty's Treasury
Home Office
Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Justice
Northern Ireland Office (Office abolished/slimmed down depending on reversal of devolution)
Office of the Advocate General for Scotland
Office of the Leader of the House of Commons
Office of the Leader of the House of Lords
Scotland Office (Office abolished/slimmed down or merged into Local Government depending on reversal of devolution)
UK Export Finance
Wales Office (Office abolished/slimmed down or merged into Local Government depending on reversal of devolution)

All the departments i've coloured in red I would either completely scrap or merge parts with other offices.

In terms of what Tony Abbott is doing in Australia - especially the scrapping of the Climate office which I posted in Current Affairs) I have to say that I find myself liking the man more and more. So yes, Abbott is totally right to abolish the carbon tax aong with the Ministry on the basis that global warming is one big con.

[Inseriousity.]

I'd personally prioritise early years education over sport and think sport-related issues could be easily merged into something else (if it's even necessary at all).