Former AIS scholarship athletes across a 33-year timeline are being encouraged to come forward and report any abuse or harm from their time at the Canberra base with a new program.
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The Australian Sports Commission Restorative Program will be launched on Wednesday and allows scholarship holders from 1981 to 2013 to share their experience and receive acknowledgment and support.
The program promises those who do will be heard, supported through counselling services, eligible for restorative payments between $5000 and $50,000, and have an opportunity for their experience to be formally acknowledged by senior representatives of the ASC.
ASC chairperson Josephine Sukkar said it was crucial for the ASC to acknowledge its past and commit to positively impacting the culture of sport now and in the future.
"Almost 9000 athletes held AIS scholarships between 1981 and 2013, and while we know many people had a positive experience, unfortunately some athletes were treated inappropriately," she said.
"The program has been established to help our former athletes report and raise concerns directly with the ASC about practices at the AIS that were detrimental to their wellbeing."
The AIS only offered scholarships from 1981-2013, before funding went directly to the national sporting organisations to manage their own scholarships.
The program builds on the ASC Board's formal apology to former athletes in May 2021, and adds to its program 'AIS Be Heard', that supports all current and former athletes, coaches, and staff across the Australian high performance sports systems to report abuse.
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ASC chief executive Kieren Perkins encouraged any former AIS scholarship athletes to contact the program if they suffered harm from their time at the AIS.
"Abuse of any nature has no place in Australian sport," he said.
"The ASC Restorative Program has been developed in consultation with restorative engagement experts and consultation with stakeholders and athlete representative groups. Learnings from athletes who have already come forward to share their stories have also been considered in developing the Program.
"We encourage you to contact the program, which includes access to counselling and support services, the opportunity to engage with senior representatives from the ASC and AIS and a restoration payment for eligible individuals.
"Your engagement with the program will be confidential and play a critical role in informing the practices of the sports sector in the future."
Individuals can apply for the program via www.sportaus.gov.au/about/asc-restorative-program.
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Isobel Cootes
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
