The HP 2032+ Strategy Leadership Group has met for the final time in 2023, as the system prepares to mark the one-year anniversary of launching the united vision to win well and inspire Australians.

It was a packed agenda for the Leadership meeting at the Commonwealth Games Australia offices in Melbourne, with the group hearing the latest updates on the Planning, Monitoring, and Review Project and the impact it is having on the annual NSO check-ins, as well about the progress of the HP Investment Framework, Inclusive Design, and Athlete Categorisation.

Leadership Group Member and Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander Advisory Group Chair Patrick Johnson also presented the Connection to Country Action Plan, one of the foundations of the HP 2032+ Strategy.

The Connection to Country Action Plan is due to be released publicly in early-2024, and Leadership Group Member and Olympian Britt Cox said seeing the finished document was a special moment.

“Patrick and the ATSI Advisory Committee have done an absolute mountain of work that I personally believe is going to have a great impact on the community in Australia,” Cox said.

“The Connection to Country Action Plan is just a great example of the trickledown effect of the strategy to community and enhancing life or preventing barriers to participation for Indigenous athletes and people. And I think that's just a great example of how this strategy is going to come together, not just for top level but the trickle down all the way to grassroots.”

Thursday 15 December 2023 will mark one year since 51 organisations came together in Sydney to unite under the HP 2032+ Strategy and the pledge: “We Win Well to inspire Australians”.

AusCycling CEO Marne Fechner has been involved in the Strategy from the beginning, serving as part of the Executive Sponsor Group before joining the Horizon 1 Leadership Group. Reflecting on the past year Fechner said: “I think that what we did as a system, you know, prior to 12 months ago was almost the dreaming. What could it be? What would it take?

“I think that the observations of the conversation in the Leadership Meeting centred on being forward focussed and transparent. We can learn a lot from the past, but it's not defining the way we move forward. And I think that's really important. And, you know, we've got a really big opportunity to really focus on what it's going to be, not what it's been. And that does require transparency and trust. So, there's an energy around that that I think is exciting.”