By Greg Blood

Hartung as Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) President led it from a small disability sports organisation with limited funding and resources to a well-resourced national sports organisation that is now an important part of Australian’s integrated high-performance sport system.

In 2020, I was fortunate to gain great insights into Hartung’s significant sport administration career including the Paralympic movement through helping to organise his significant collection of papers for deposit in the National Library of Australia. In addition, I encouraged Hartung to publish his reflections on Australian Sport Reflections and the book The Great Arm Wrestle: Australian Sport Policy since 1939.

The Sydney Morning Herald’s headline on Hartung’s departure as Australian Paralympic Committee (APC – now Paralympics Australia) President in 2013 read:

Greg Hartung: the man who brought disabled athletes into mainstream.

Hartung was President from 1998 to 2013 – importantly he took on the role in the lead up to the Sydney Paralympics that is now seen as a watershed moment for the Paralympic movement in Australia. In helping to organise Hartung’s papers, I gained great insights in how he led the APC and dealt with the numerous issues impacting on it. Below is a brief summary of my insights:

• Prior to being elected President in 1998, Hartung provided assistance to the Australian Paralympic Federation in its bid to host the 2000 Sydney Paralympics. Ron Finneran (President) and Adrienne Smith (Secretary) relied upon Hartung’s extensive experience of working within and outside the federal government. It needs to be remembered that the NSW Government did not initially want to host the Sydney Paralympics and the APF had to lobby to overturn this view.
• The position of APC President led to Hartung being appointed as the  Deputy President of the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games Organizing Committee (SPOC). Hartung’s papers highlight his role in removing the onerous athlete entry fees to participate at the Paralympics  – a requirement not imposed in Olympic athletes.
• After the 2000 Paralympics, Harting led the establishment of the Oceania Paralympic Committee, which has led to a greater voice for Oceania Paralympic athletes and officials within the International Paralympic Committee.
• Hartung led the APC to a policy of mainstreaming that resulted in national sports organisations being responsible for the preparation of their athletes to Paralympic level. Sydney Morning Herald ran a story during the Sydney Games under the headline “Mainstreaming – the Paralympic movement’s hot debate in the making” and quoting APC President, Greg Hartung stating “The most powerful argument is the administrative efficiencies it brings. It is also humanitarian and inclusive. It distinguishes Australia as a modern, progressive country.”
• Under Hartung’s leadership, from 2005 to 2012, approximately 2000 individuals attended APC Talent Search programs Australia-wide, in addition to workshops aimed at introducing children with a disability to sport in collaboration with School Sport Australia. It is apparent in the lead up to Brisbane Paralympics in 2032 that the PA is investing significant resources in the talent search area after its medal numbers have significantly decreased from the Sydney Games.  
• Hartung was Vice President of the International Paralympic Committee from 2009 to 2013. It is always important that Australian sport leaders have a place at the international sports table. From an Olympic perspective, John Coates has highlighted this role.
• In 2009, Hartung and Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates submitted a National High Performance Plan for Olympic and Paralympic Sports in Australia to the Crawford Inquiry into Australian sport. This was significant as the APC and AOC were now working more cooperatively in high performance sport policy development.
• From 2006 to his resignation in 2010, Hartung was an Australian Sports Commission (ASC) Commissioner including Chair from November 2008 to April 2010. Through this period, Hartung had greater access to the Minister for Sport and was able to advocate for increased Paralympic sport funding. In 2010, the APC received an additional $3 million per annum as part of the Australian Government‘s sport reform package Australian Sport: The Pathway to Success.
• In a return to the early days of the Paralympic movement which was founded on the rehabilitation of severely injured military personnel during World War II, the APC in cooperation with the Australian Defence Force (ADF) launched the ADF Paralympic Sport Program. This program aimed to direct ADF members, who acquired a disability during their employment, into Paralympic sport. I have not observed too many ADF members competing for Australia at the Paralympics, but Afghanistan veteran Curtis McGrath has gone on to win kayaking gold medals at three Games.
• From a personal perspective, I have seen how Hartung has encouraged the recognition of Australian Paralympians through the establishment of Australian Paralympic Hall of Fame in 2011 and its history project managed by Tony Naar. Prior to the APC History Project, the history of the movement was in the “minds” of athletes, their families and administrators and not publicly documented. Now there is a wealth of information through Wikipedia athlete articles from 1960 to present Games, Paralympic Stories website, oral histories at the National Library of Australia and collection of images and video.

Hartung came to the APC just at the right time – pre-Sydney Paralympics. He brought to the movement great understanding of how to lobby government as:

• he had published a Master’s thesis on lobbying
• he was the inaugural CEO of Australian Sports Commission from 1984 to 1988
• from 1989 to 1995, he was President of the Confederation of Australian Sport – the peak NSO voice to government.

I often reflect on where the Paralympic movement in Australia would be today if Hartung had not been President from 1998 to 2013. These days longevity in a position appears to be frowned upon but sometimes it is necessary to ensure a solid and long-term foundation is established.

The next step for me is recognition of Hartung into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame as a General Member for his leadership in Australian sport for over 30 years.

It is also important to recognise four people also inducted into the Australian Paralympic Hall of Fame with Hartung. There is a link to their Wikipedia articles created by Paralympics Australia History Project that outlines their contributions to the Paralympic movement:

• Elizabeth Edmondson
• Gary Hooper
• Anne Brunnell (nee Currie)
• David Gould

Further Information’

• Greg Hartung Wikipedia
• Power of understanding political processes and lobbying in Australian sport – insights from Greg Hartung’s career in sport administration, Australian Sport Reflections
• Greg Hartung Papers at National Library of Australia
• Greg Hartung interviewed by Ian Jobling in the Australian Centre for Paralympic Studies oral history project, National Library of Australia, 2011.