Albury sporting clubs disappointed about cuts to NSW Active Kids vouchers

Higher-income families will be excluded from the children's sport and arts program to ease costs on NSW taxpayers as the Active Kids and Creative Kids vouchers will be reduced from $100 to $50, and only available to families receiving Family Tax Benefit Part A - about 600,000 of 1.35 million school children across NSW.

Father-of-seven Scott Harding said the Active Sports vouchers were important to his family and it could force them to make changes.

"Some do two or three sports. You can afford it with vouchers because it can pay for one and you can get them in another sport," he said.

"It's $100 per child roughly for Miniroos (under-12s soccer), so it means one sport is paid for. If we lose that one sport, it's definitely going to be a hit for big families.

"One of my sons plays rugby, my other son plays basketball and soccer and one of my daughters was playing league tag and soccer."

Mr Harding, who coaches junior teams at Albury Hotspurs Soccer Club, said the skill level of players dropped when COVID-19 restrictions led to cancellations of organised sport in 2020 and 2021, and it could be a similar story if numbers fell away without the government subsidy.

"Having kids inside playing computer games is never an ideal thing," he said.

"It's the economic benefits it brings as well. With our sports, teams are coming from out of town and bringing money into Albury.

"It's the same for us when we go to Wangaratta or Myrtleford, so you start taking some of that away and it's going to hurt as well.

"Clubs are going to have to look at how they keep people around.

"We don't want to miss out on developing our juniors into senior players because that will be the biggest loss."

Hotspurs' president Brad Howard said the club had built its player base up to 400, with more than 300 under the age of 18, but he feared it could be short-lived.

"We're just over 200 for Miniroos now and you can see that number will only drop," he said.

"Across AWFA (Albury Wodonga Football Association), there's three more teams than last year and Miniroos is at capacity, but it's only going to go backwards.

"We've got a team in every grade and we've got two in a couple, so we're the biggest out of the NSW clubs.

"Miniroos players only have to pay $20 for the whole year with the voucher and it's only $80 for the year for the rest of our juniors.

"We keep setting the bar high with registrations and teams and things like that, but come and see us next year and see what it looks like."

Albury Thunder Junior Rugby League has 360 playing members this year, 30 up on 2022, but president Scott Harris was worried that could dwindle without the extra support for families.

"Our numbers are the highest they've ever been and that's due to the Active Kids vouchers," he said.

"I'd assume we'd see a decline in numbers off the back of that, especially with the cost of living and expenses."

Mr Harris said the club capped its registration at $100 to encourage participants to use vouchers, but said it would likely need to change next season.

"It'd be a shame to see kids sport suffer due to that cutback," he said.

"I think a lot of sport is declining in general, so it would be a shame to see those numbers drop without something as simple as an Active Kids voucher.

"Screen time is a killer at the moment and we're trying to get them out and active. This is one way of doing it and if it saves mums and dads a few dollars, I'm all for it."

Albury MP Justin Clancy told The Border Mail this month 63,666 vouchers had been created in Albury since 2018, with 59 per cent of the population who are eligible using them.

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