LAISENIA TUITUBOU
Minister for Youth and Sports

SPEECH AT THE LAUNCH OF THE REVIEW OF THE
NATIONAL SPORTS AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY POLICY

The Permanent Secretary for Youth and Sports;
Colleagues from Government Ministries;
Executive Chair of the Fiji National Sports Commission and Chair of the Fiji Sports Council;
CEO Fiji Sports Council;
The President of the Oceania National Olympic Committees; Representatives of FASANOC;
Representatives of the Fiji National Council for Disabled Persons; Members of the Media;

Ladies and Gentlemen.
Bula Vinaka and Good Afternoon everyone. Thank you all for making it to this conference.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this event is a great initiative aimed at elevating sports activities and planning at all levels of sports engagement in Fiji. Government, in 2012, approved the updated National Sports Policy. Today we are here to launch another very exciting process deemed to produce a “cutting-edge sports and physical activity policy” that will benefit the Fijian public.
At this juncture, I wish to acknowledge our stakeholders who are also important players in this review process. They are the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Fiji Association of Sport and National Olympic Committee (FASANOC), Oceania National Olympic Committees (ONOC), Fiji National Sports Commission, Fiji Sports Council, the Fiji National Council for Disabled Persons and our national sporting federations. And I acknowledge your presence here this afternoon and look forward to your partnership throughout this review process.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this review will be guided by feedback received from the survey questionnaire, which will be available online through the Ministry’s and our stakeholders’ websites, and also through the distribution of questionnaires to members of the public. Officials from the stakeholders will consult groups as they go about their work in urban and rural areas to ensure full participation across Fiji’s diverse population.
We would like to explore all available avenues and utilise all available resources to get a large response through this survey. We will reach out to remotest parts of Fiji and will encourage comments from a wide cross-section of the community - from young and old, men and women, those with and without disabilities as well as those currently physically active and those still to become physically active. Their opinions and responses matter. We are inviting all members of the public to participate in the review.
The review, which launches today, will last six weeks and will end on 13 April 2017. All data and information gathered through this survey will inform a revised and improved policy that will promote inclusion and healthy living so enhancing sport and physical activity at every level of the community.
Government, through this initiative, is striving to help the productive capacity of the sports sector to grow, to encourage innovation, research, development and knowledge. Government envisages that through this revised policy, we will ensure that every sports organisation is democratic, transparent, strong, efficient, effective and fully engaged in their management.
Sport contributes to social change. The Ministry will continue to place equal emphasis on both Sports and Youth Development. We hope that through this revised policy, we will provide the impetus to promote sports activities as an educational, integrating tool, and importantly - a tool to promote health. The policy, I hope, will facilitate the integration of resources, sporting organisations, people and skills to achieve maximum benefit of sports and physical activity.
Government cannot over-emphasise the fact that participating in sports and physical activities help to keep people healthy and is good for communities. Playing sport, being physically active and most of all, having fun at school or in a local clubs is also the first step to competition at the highest level, which helps improve our reputation as a sporting nation, and contributes to economic growth. We are convinced that sports and physical activity are essential to preventing illnesses and combating non- communicable diseases.
Mass participation in physical activity and sport easily leads to a healthier population and provides a larger base of athletes participating and progressing into elite sport. Sport and physical activity have positive effects on both individuals and society in general. The value and effect of playing sport is the primary reason why Government provides funding for sporting activities.
Children and young people are an important target group for our revised sports policy. Without pre-empting the feedback, I hope that through the new policy, physical activity, physical education and disability sports will be recognised as equally important. Physical education in school gives more opportunities at an early age to develop hand-eye coordination, muscle and skeleton development, balance, team spirit for all young people, particularly those with special educational needs and disabilities. Physical education is key to promoting healthy living thus fostering a healthy Fiji.
School-based sports programs can bring out noticeable positive developments and behaviours in teenagers. Apart from bringing both physical and mental wellbeing to students, physical activity can also bring intangible benefits to the school and the community as a whole. Children in Fiji spend a substantial amount of time at school, in settings that provide safe and convenient programs and facilities that promote physical activity. But when people leave school they often stop playing sports, which means people cannot fulfil their sporting potential, and which inevitably leads to a less healthy lifestyle. We want to get more people being physically active safely from a young age, and help them stay active throughout their life, no matter what their economic or social background.
Good governance and prudent sports management have become a matter of constant public interest over recent years. I hope the policy will promote strongly the basic principles of good governance which includes democracy, accountability and transparency, in compliance with the law.
Safety in sports is a basic requirement and safeguards for every participating sportsperson from all forms of abuse should be considered. Promoting ongoing development of coaches and officials, and the need to fine tune their technical skills to provide up-to-date training methods and skills and science behind sports and physical activity is key to developing our athletes across the country.
Fiji is undoubtedly is a sports loving nation that takes pride in participating and competing on the international sporting stage. To do this, our infrastructure need to be developed and Fiji marketed as a key sporting destination in the Pacific. With the growth of the sports industry, Government has now maximised this opportunity by taking advantage of our facilities and breath¬taking scenery to attract international sports events to Fiji.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the review will definitely boost overall sports development in Fiji and we need to work together to achieve maximum positive results in the next six weeks. I appeal to members of the media and the Association of Sports Journalists to help the Ministry extensively promote this exercise to every Fijian to make their voices heard and their contribution count by filling in the forms and accessing the online portals.
I again thank you all for coming and I look forward to you all for making this review become a success.
Vinaka.