The state sports institutes have "rebuffed an initial Australian Sports Commission proposal to bring them all under the banner of the Australian Institute of Sport," according to Nicole Jeffery of THE AUSTRALIAN. The ASC has argued "repeatedly" in recent years that "efficiencies could be found in the high-performance system by reducing duplication and improving co-ordination between the national and state institutes." However, it was only when the "stoush" between ASC Chair John Wylie and Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates "erupted at the weekend" that it came out the ASC was proposing a merger of all institutes. In his dealings with Wylie, Coates reiterated he "was opposed to an AIS 'takeover' of the other institutes and academies, instead favouring continued and hopefully enhanced co-operation." Coates wrote, "I understand that you have since developed your proposal for a national institute system and presented it to a recent meeting of state and territory directors of sport where it was rejected." New South Wales Institute of Sport outgoing CEO Charles Turner said the case for reducing duplication "was not a reasonable argument." He added, "Over the last four years the system has been pretty well aligned." West Australian Institute of Sport CEO Steve Lawrence said WAIS "wasn't necessarily opposed to joining forces with the other institutes but was yet to be convinced that it would lead to a better outcome." However, he said the state institutes were "wary" because 80-95% of their funding came from their state governments. Acting ASC CEO and AIS Dir Matt Favier, a proponent of a merger, said the proposal was "neither accepted or rejected." Favier: "It's not positioned as a takeover but as a partnership" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 1/18).