I have pleasure in announcing that the Australian Government is currently undertaking the first ever comprehensive assessment of sports development in the South Pacific region.
The study, entitled the Pacific Region Sporting Needs Assessment, is aimed at identifying ways of improving the level of sports skills and participation in Pacific Island countries, and will be completed by the end of this year.
The needs assessment has been commissioned as part of the successful Australia-South Pacific 2006 Sports Programme (ASP 2006) which has been providing sports development assistance at both the elite and community levels in 14 Pacific Island countries since 2001.
Under this programme, the region's best athletes and coaches have been able to take advantage of training opportunities at world class training centres such as the Australian Institute of Sport. This assistance will continue in the lead-up to the Athens Olympics in 2004 and the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006.
The programme also assists sports development at the community level. For instance, ASP 2006 supported the development of a simplified dual-language netball rule book which was distributed to all netball associations in Papua New Guinea.
The needs assessment study will ensure that ASP2006 continues to provide effective sports development assistance by identifying areas of special priority in each of the 14 participating countries (such as sports programmes for people with a disability).
Two priority projects already on the drawing board are the establishment in the Solomon Islands of a general physical education and sports curriculum for schools, and a sports programme for deaf and mute children.