With aims to “promote greater gender diversity and inclusiveness” as well as “create more professional opportunities for athletes”, Sport Australia chief executive Kate Palmer believes the new grant program will go a long way to address under-representation of females as administrators, coaches and officials.

“The Women Leaders in Sport program was established in 2002 to develop more female administrators, coaches and officials in sport, and has supported more than 24,000 women over that time,” Palmer said.

“The success and longevity of this program is significant, but as the profile of women in sport continues to rise, Sport Australia remains committed to supporting the leaders of the future.

“Diversity in any industry is essential and sport is the same. We know this program is making a positive difference to the women who participate, with more than 95 per cent of last year’s recipients saying it helped increase opportunities for them to move into senior leadership roles in the sports industry.

“This program just keeps going from strength to strength and we’ve seen some amazing women come through it. We’ve had recipients such as Olympic rowing gold medallist, Kim Brennan, and former Australian cricketer and Cricket NSW board member, Alex Blackwell, along with many women who are strong and emerging leaders across the whole sport sector.”

Palmer has urged Novocastrian women playing sport to apply for the Women Leaders in Sport program for 2019, which includes leadership workshops as well as development grants of up to $3,000 for individuals and $20,000 for organisations.

Sport Australia will jointly fund the program alongside the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s Office for Women.

Applications are now open, and will close on September 5. To apply, head online to sportaus.gov.au/grants_and_funding/women_leaders_in_sport.