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Recreation in Australia
Sport 2030 - National Sports Plan
Released in mid-2018, the National Sport Plan demonstrates a clear vision of the Australia Government for sport and physical activity in Australia. One of the four key pillars of the plan is ‘Building a More Active Australia’. This will be promoted in the following ways:
- Drive movement for life through sport and physical activity participation for all Australians
- Ensure all Australian children have the skills, confidence and motivation to be active for life and safe in the water
- Reduce barriers to sport and physical activity participation, including swimming, and actively promote incentives for participation
- Coordinated investment in sport and recreation facilities to achieve sustainable outcomes for communities, with a focus on universal design to ensure sport is accessible to all Australians.
Fitness Australia
Fitness Australia is the peak health and fitness industry association providing a range of support services and solutions to over 30,000 registered personal trainers, registered fitness instructors, fitness businesses and suppliers Australia-wide.
Parks and Leisure Australia
Parks and Leisure Australia is the peak industry association for professionals working in the Parks and Leisure sector in Australia, representing over 2500 members. Through a broad range of services they support members to provide opportunities that strengthen communities through good use of leisure time for the social, environmental, economic and physical wellbeing of all Australians.
AusPlay Sport and Recreation Data
The AusPlay Survey is a large scale national population tracking survey funded and led by the Australian Sports Commission that:
- is the largest and most comprehensive survey of its kind ever conducted in Australia;
- is the single-source participation data currency for government and the sport and recreation sector;
- helps the sport and recreation sector better understand the participation landscape and identify strategies to grow participation; and
- provides national and state based data.
Data collection for AusPlay commenced on 22 October 2015. On 31 October 2019 Sport Australia released the latest AusPlay results covering data collected in the last financial year (July 2018 to June 2019).
National AusPlay Data General Findings
- People tend to spend more time doing non-sport related activity as they age
- Adults participate in non-sport related physical activity more often than sport.
- Physical health or fitness is the strongest motivation for non-sport related physical activity.
- Sport clubs are not the main choice for participation in sport or physical activity for adults.
- 59% of money being spent by adults on being active is in recreational activities
- Recreational walking is the most popular physical activity for Australians, then fitness/gym activities
SA AusPlay Data – July 2018 – June 2019
Top 15 activities for adults – 9 of top 15 involve active recreation. Detailed South Australian data can be found on the Sport Australia Clearinghouse for Sport.
Participation rate (%) | |
|---|---|
Walking (Recreational) | 46.9% |
Fitness/Gym | 33.0% |
Athletics, track and field (includes jogging and running) | 14.7% |
Cycling | 12.6% |
Swimming | 11.0% |
Australian football | 5.9% |
Bush walking | 5.2% |
Netball | 5.1% |
Tennis | 3.6% |
Pilates | 3.5% |
Yoga | 3.5% |
Football/soccer | 3.5% |
Basketball | 3.2% |
Golf | 3.1% |
Bowls | 2.4% |
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