“Sunshine Coast' Million Moves' Launching in May!
We are excited to announce a new initiative, ‘Million Moves,' which we will launch this May. We are on a mission to encourage greater physical activity among Australians, beginning with the Sunshine Coast. We intend to run a pilot program on the Sunshine Coast and scale it to be delivered nationwide to boost community participation in active recreation.
For 21 days, four Members of Federal Parliament, local businesses, community groups, exercise professionals, and businesses will come together to complete 75 moves a day, collectively reaching over a million moves over the course of the program. 75 moves a day represents 75% of adults aged 18–64 who sadly do not meet the physical activity guidelines recommended by World Health Organisation.
Participants will receive education and guidance to maintain their activity levels. They aim to build up to 150 minutes of exercise weekly in line with the World Health Organisation Guidelines to drive lifelong participation and achieve optimum health and well-being.
This project aligns with AUSactive's strategic plan to enhance all Australians' health and well-being by promoting lifelong engagement in physical activity, improving quality of life, and preventing chronic conditions like obesity and heart disease. The project also supports our advocacy for a national public health campaign promoting physical activity. AUSactive will share insights from “Million Moves” to advocate for the government to implement a national public health campaign promoting physical activity to increase and sustain the population's engagement with exercise nationwide.
There are so many benefits to leading a healthy and active lifestyle, and we would love all our Sunshine Coast members to be part of our pilot project. If you're a gym owner, exercise professional, personal trainer, strength and conditioning coach, group exercise instructor, yoga instructor, Pilates professional, manage a boot camp, or work as a personal trainer on the Sunshine Coast, you can positively impact and encourage the Sunshine Coast community to stay active!
You can participate in our webinar on Wednesday, March 20th, at 1pm to learn how you can contribute to the campaign. Click here to register.
To all our other members, stay tuned for when we run a Million Moves in your area!
Meeting with Federal Parliamentarians 14 February 2024
CEO Barrie Elvish and I travelled to Canberra on 14 February to meet with the Assistant Health Minister Ged Kearney, the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury Andrew Leigh and Melanie Burke, Advisor to the Health Minister Mark Butler to discuss AUSactive’s Federal Budget Submission asking for:
- An extension of the FBT exemption to apply to all employers who provide exercise facilities and memberships to their employees. An extension removes the existing discrimination whereby some employers and employment sectors can offer this benefit, but most Australian companies cannot. Interestingly, Parliament House staff and elected members effectively already have access to this benefit. Enabling this exemption would also encourage staff to return to their workplace and improve national productivity through increased participation in physical activity.
- Similarly, we are also asking for consideration to enable Australians to claim a tax deduction for bona fide physical activity and exercise, e.g., gym memberships. We believe it is incongruous that Individuals giving a donation to one of the many health-related NFP organisations can claim a tax deduction, but spending a similar amount on a gym membership and taking proactive steps to improve their health, and by default decreasing demands on our struggling Health system, gets no tax support.
- As identified in the existing National Preventive Health Strategy and cross-referenced in the National Obesity Strategy, we believe the government must enact a national public health campaign encouraging physical activity and exercise as an absolute priority. The campaign should be developed and leveraged with key stakeholders such as AUSactive.
These meetings strengthened our relationships with Canberra politicians keen to hear more about our upcoming projects to increase physical activity, like “Million Moves”. We will, therefore, continue to work with the government and share insights from our projects that promote the benefits of exercise, encouraging them to launch a nationwide public health campaign to raise awareness about the importance of increasing physical activity across the country.
Application for the Federal -Play Well Participation Grant Program and the Queensland Active Industry Project Fund Super Round
To help increase physical activity participation across the country, this month AUSactive applied for the Federal -Play Well Participation Grant Program to fund inclusive, quality sport and physical activity programs to help tens of thousands of Australians get involved in sport and physical activity. The program will invest in innovative new or expanded existing programs that address existing barriers to participation and increase involvement in sports and physical activity.
AUSactive also applied for the Queensland Active Industry Project Fund Super Round, which is only open to State Active Recreation Bodies (peak bodies). The objective of the Super Round is to support the sport and active recreation industry by providing diverse, inclusive, and responsive participation opportunities.
AUSactive will find out if it is successful in its grant applications in the next few months.
