A Dubbo disability association claims a local woman has used the organisation’s name to win a $3000 grant, but the Australian Sports Commission says the applicant stands firm that the claims are legitimate.
Isabel Wallace from the Riding for the Disabled Dubbo centre said she was baffled at how a woman she had never met and who had never been involved with the centre was able to apply for the ‘Sports Leadership Grant for Women’ through the Australian Sports Commission by using the Dubbo riding centre’s name on the application form.
But an Australian Sports Commission spokesperson said the woman had not used the Dubbo centre’s name to obtain the grant.
The successful $3490 grant was announced by Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton last week, and is designed to help coaches meet the costs of advanced training accreditation, but Mrs Wallace said the person who applied for the grant was not a coach at the Riding for the Disabled Dubbo, nor had any intention of helping them out.
“This isn’t a vendetta against the woman but she has used our name without our permission for her own gain,” Mrs Wallace told the Daily Liberal.
“We are concerned that an individual that I don’t even know could use the organisation to get the grant.
“This person has used our name as a reference on her application and it would have been a common courtesy to let us know,” she said.
The Australian Sports Commission said the application was endorsed by the National Riding for the Disabled and there was no obligation to notify all affiliated bodies of successful applications, and therefore unlikely that the Dubbo centre had been informed.
“The Dubbo Riding for the Disabled centre is not in any way associated with the national sporting organisation Riding for the Disabled Association of Australia that supported the woman’s grant application,” the spokesperson said.
“Therefore the Dubbo centre did not need to be informed of the successful grant application.
“The lady has no connections to the local Dubbo centre nor did she use the centre’s name to obtain the grant,” she said.
Mrs Wallace said she wanted to make it clear to people that their organisation didn’t receive the grant, as it may foreshadow their chance to get further funding.
“I don’t want people thinking we are being greedy when we go for our next fundraiser,” she said.
belinda.galloway@ruralpress.com