The Malinauskas Labor Government is set to double the support available to South Australian families for their children’s sport and recreational activities and for the first time, music lessons will be included.
Announced in the 2024-25 State Budget, the Malinauskas Government is investing $54.6 million over four years to double the number of $100 sports vouchers to two per child per calendar year and address cost of living pressures for families.
Sports vouchers were expanded at the start of 2024 to include scouts and guides and will be further extended to include music lessons from January 2025.
Children from Reception to Year 9 can receive the subsidy with more than 1,200 providers signed up to the program across South Australia.
Providers are available across a range of activities, from popular sports like Australian rules football, soccer, netball and swimming to pursuits including fencing, cheerleading, guides and roller sports.
First launched in 2015, South Australia’s sports vouchers program is one of the most successful in the country with more than 88,000 vouchers claimed in the 2023 calendar year.
South Australian households have saved more than $54 million across the life of the program to date.
The expanded program will commence from 1 January 2025.
As put by Katrine Hildyard
This State Budget investment will absolutely make a difference in the lives of children and their families.
We know that involvement in sport and the arts improves physical, emotional and mental wellbeing and allows young people to find their connection to community and build lifelong friendships.
The more we can encourage and support kids to get involved, engaged and active the better. Supporting that engagement means supporting families to access opportunities for their kids.
We don’t want families to be excluded because they can’t afford the cost of getting their kids involved. This expansion is a crucial step in breaking barriers to participation and helping all South Australian children and young people have the best opportunity to be active, healthy and engaged.
Sport should be within the reach of all South Australian families. This investment will help ensure it is.
As put by Andrea Michaels
Every South Australian child should have access to the benefits of arts and culture and now through the expansion of our Sports Voucher program, children will be able to receive subsidised music lessons for the first time.
Being able to learn an instrument offers incredible benefits for children’s wellbeing and development but the cost of lessons can often be prohibitive.
That’s why we have extended the program to make it more affordable for families to enrol their children in music lessons.
As put by Rhiannon Pearce
We want to encourage more young South Australian kids to spend less time on screens and more time being active and getting healthy.
We know that children and young people who grow up playing sport are more likely to remain active as adults and to have improved resilience and social connectedness.
And that embracing music benefits both a young person’s development and personal wellbeing – which is why I warmly welcome music lessons to the program.
The expansion of the Sports Vouchers program, which already assists so many families across our state, will help encourage more kids to live healthy, active lives and provides families with more flexibility and choice.
