Well it did not take long!
The winter Olympics are still going somewhere in Korea and already there are calls, on the news tonight, for us to spend heaps of dough to provide new and top line facilities for our winter athletes. Apparently we only got a few medals which was below expectations. So, if we want medals, we must spend big on facilities, they say, and no doubt the sport administrators will get the ear of senior politicians.

The polys will accede to the request even thought we hardly get enough snow to ski for more than a month and few participate in the snow and ice sports seriously.

Don't we spend too much on sports anyway? Only last week there were published plans for new and bigger football stadiums for some major cities. But I suppose that is warranted as our sports people and spectators deserve the best. Other needs and infastructure will just have to wait. What about the hundreds of homeless and the urgent need for an inland railway. What about all the roads that need upgrading and do not say anything about the massive debt that Gillard and Rudd left us with.

So in the coming months we can expect more calls for big bucks to be given toward new and top facilities for winter sports

What good would facilities be in Australia with 5 minutes of snow a year? Athletes have to travel and live overseas to train. And yes. We do send too much money and time on sport already. Sport should be strictly user pays. Australia is like ancient Rome and it's gladiatorial spectacles: numbing our minds to bungling governments and important matters.

Banjo,

Don't you know that Gladys is going to do something about road safety, she recently released a plan that the Govt is going to implement, after due consideration and the committee reports etc.

Meanwhile, the first 20 kilometres of the Glen Innes to Emmerville Rd has 23 safety hazards, mainly blind corners and crests all with a broken centre line going around/over them inviting the unwary to take part in a head-on collision.
Included in the 23 are three crests on the Gwydir Highway as it passes through Glen Innes.
The local council are doing their bit however and have large 'planter boxes at two roundabouts in the town, these hide small cars entering the roundabouts; this adds immensely to the fun of driving in the town.
There is plenty of parking, especially in the centre of the three main streets, small children suddenly running out from a just parked car add a lot of interest to a day in town.
The speed limit is 40 but the prudent motorist does no more than 20 and even at that speed needs to be hawkeyed.

So far I've only had toddlers run out in front of me twice, luck and good breaks (and good brakes as well) have averted tragedy.

Yes very much time to tell the football, cricket & other sports fans to build their own damn stadiums. If they can't build & maintain the things from gate takings, there is not enough interest in the activity to justify tax payer expenditure.

Motor car & bike racing managed to pay it's own way, apart from the elite world championship races, loved more by politicians as a chance for personal publicity. They have both managed to produce world champions with no public spending. I abhor the fact that it is starting to happen today.

I love seeing Ozzies doing well, but I don't give a damn if they win gold medals, certainly not enough interested to spend my hard earned of training or support. If they want to go slide down mountains, great, but they can pay for the privilege themselves.

If they want to run around in circles kicking a ball, great. If they can get some fools to pay to watch them do it, even better but they can build the fence to keep the non payers out themselves.

I'm sorry but from a very young age I should have gotten into or even just understood 'sports'. At school, I avoided it like it was a disease, and to me it was. As I grew up I became even more intolerant of 'sports'. I could never understand why we were 'playing games' when we were at a teaching institution. Once I was told it was because children needed to get out and have a break from the tedium of study. I could not believe this was the reason. If it was up to me I would ban ALL sports. Nature tells us, once you grow out of your teens, that's it, you are no longer a child and that's when people should stop playing sports. Nature is telling us to stop in other ways. For example, look at the number of injuries suffered by so many athletes. Then we have the other side of the coin. I see people who play sports as morons but I see people who watch or follow sports as even bigger morons. How someone can give a flying flee about watching someone else running around like a child is beyond me. Then add the kind of money they get by the public and the govt, it's absolute madness. This is part of the reason we are taxed so high and see so little result for that tax/money. It's being thrown away on frivolous activities and bloody minded interests, groups and minorities. And along the way, let's not forget the back door skimming the pollies and their mates enjoy. As far as I'm concerned if someone likes sports so much, they can pay for it.

My sporting interests used to be gliding and target shooting. I don't recall any subsidies.

There's plenty of subsidies and grants for shooting, and as a shooter, long may it continue.
As I don't pay income tax it's win, win.

Personally I cannot ever see a case being made out, for more funds being made available for sport, to the exclusion of the 'homeless', the poor or other disenfranchised members of our community. Most sports people today can earn their own money, once they've achieved some level of expertise.

As some of you already know, when I was still in the coppers, I sought permission from the Commissioner (and got it), to participate in 6 & 8 Rd. pro-boxing bouts at South's Juniors. And it was subsequently approved, provided I not bring any discredit on the Force, or render myself unfit for duty, as a consequence of my participation. Some blokes in the job, undertook other 'outside' employment (with permission) provided the same criteria was acknowledged and met.

Why then do these elite sports people, need to resort to taxpayers funds, when it's they themselves who acquire all the benefits; the adulation, endorsements, big money matches etc? To me it's morally wrong, especially when we've a substantial national debt, and so many other Aussies who need more urgent assistance; like affordable housing, medical care and a job! Rather then standing on a dais with chunk of metal being precariously suspended around their necks.