Australia's federal government will "go for gold" under a multi-million dollar plan to "help more Australian athletes win medals at next year's Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast," according to Renee Viellaris of the Brisbane COURIER-MAIL. A new A$15M ($11M) winning fund will be released in the budget for about 2,000 elite and aspiring athletes in a bid to "widen Australia's chances of bagging a swag of medals." Sporting organizations will "share in the cash splash," which will help pay for "high-performance training, better coaches and the latest equipment." It will also fund athletes to travel to int'l meets to give them "game time against the best in the world." Sport Minister Greg Hunt said that he would not comment on "pre-Budget speculation," but he said that the government was "committed to supporting the Commonwealth Games and Australia’s athletes." The federal government "has already invested significantly" to help the CWG. About A$95M was provided for Stage 2 of the Gold Coast Light Rail and A$15M to upgrade Metricon Stadium in Carrara (COURIER-MAIL, 5/8).
