LITTLE ATHLETICS AUSTRALIA AND ATHLETICS AUSTRALIA PROPOSED UNIFICATION

In early December 2021, the National bodies of Little Athletics Australia (LAA) and Athletics Australia (AA) will present a motion to the Member Associations (the States) at respective Special Meetings (SGMs) for the unification to a single national body; Australian Athletics. The vision for Australian Athletics is for a partnership of equals, combining to represent the interests of all our participants and members and is designed to provide clear and logical pathways for athletes, coaches, and officials through their life in the sport.

The LAA and AA Boards commenced the OneAthletics journey in September 2019 and since then have engaged in a series of community forums and ongoing member communication through the OneAthletics website. 
In WA, you voted overwhelmingly in favour of the merge of Little Athletics WA (LAWA) and Athletics WA (AWA) in June 2020 to form Athletics West.  Since then, our progress to deliver as One Sport, while steady, has been hampered by the governance requirements of two separate National organisations resulting in duplication, inefficiencies, and conflicting requirements.  The current status where the sport in WA is governed by two separate National bodies, continues to hamper our progress to deliver upon the promises of efficiencies and to achieve clear and logical pathway development throughout the sport. 

Consistent with the support you provided for the merge at a State level last year, we will subsequently provide our support for the unification of the National bodies to Australian Athletics at the respective vote in December.  A brief summary of the Business Case for the unification to Australian Athletics, is provided at Enclosure 1 for your overview. 

If the vote for Australian Athletics is successful there will be increased organisational efficiencies, less duplication of resources, elimination of competing services and increased commercial and growth opportunities. Importantly, simplifying the member pathway to remove the confusion of overlapping and often inconsistent products will be achievable and will be progressively implemented over the coming years.  Athletics West is invested in the outcome of the proposed unification, to ensure we provide the best support and outcomes to all our members and participants across WA.

Should the vote for unification at a national level not be successful, Athletics West proposes affiliating with only one National body in the future.  Retaining the current inefficiencies and duplication within management, as well as the competing and often confusing pathway for our members, participants, and staff is not a sustainable model for the future.

If this should eventuate, we will continue to work with the governing bodies throughout season 2021/22 to achieve the best outcomes for our members and participants, committing to engage with you throughout. We will work through any transition and branding requirements as well as remain ready to assist Clubs and Centres throughout. However, alignment to the recognised National Sporting Organisation (by the Australian Sports Commission), whether it be the unified body of Australian Athletics, or Athletics Australia, will be the only option to ensure we can further develop aligned pathways across all ages, all abilities for all participants.

Australian Athletics: The Benefits of a United Athletics dated October 2021

Teresa Blackman

Chair, Athletics West

Timothy Lyons

Deputy Chair, Athletics West