Tuesday, 18 February 2025

Ministers statements: Get Active Kids voucher program

Ros SPENCE (Kalkallo – Minister for Agriculture, Minister for Community Sport, Minister for Carers and Volunteers) (14:37): I am very pleased to update the house on the Allan Labor government’s work to make community sport more accessible for Victorian families. Our very popular Get Active Kids voucher program provides eligible families with up to $200 to cover the cost of uniforms, equipment and registration. When we introduced the program four years ago, we committed to delivering 100,000 vouchers to families. Thanks to continued investment by the Allan Labor government, including $9 million in the 2024–25 budget, that number has now grown to more than 184,000 vouchers and still counting because we are currently in round 8 of the program.

I would like to share some key highlights. The vouchers have been most popular in the local government areas of Hume, Melton and Wyndham. In this round swimming has been the most popular activity, with more than 10,000 vouchers provided to families. To ensure that even more people can access affordable swimming lessons and learn those really essential water safety skills, we are continuing to invest in the VICSWIM Summer Kidz program. This is a really terrific program that provided safe and inclusive lessons throughout the January school holidays to more than 17,700 kids at 175 venues. The most popular venues were Ocean Grove beach in the electorate of Bellarine, the Ivanhoe aquatic centre in the electorate of Ivanhoe and the Eltham Leisure Centre in the electorate of Eltham. I would really like to acknowledge our delivery partner Aquatics & Recreation Victoria for their work on the Summer Kidz program.

We all know that everyone deserves a chance to participate in the sport that they love. That is why the Allan Labor government remains committed to breaking down those barriers of cost and making community sport accessible to all.