Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this motion as well. Whilst not discounting the previous speaker's motives at all—I think in this House we are all in favour of sporting organisations, of proper administration and of our children and our friends playing sport—but I do not support the member's motion. To look at these sorts of things without taking the holistic view is to promote ambush marketing. Football Queensland's licensing scheme has been running for around 30 years and has been proven to be a successful arrangement. Licensing policies such as this one are standard and are in use in several sporting bodies across Australia.

The previous speaker, the member for Oxley, spoke about cost. It is true that as a parent with two children currently in sport, it is a big cost. Basketball is by far and away my biggest concern in the city of Townsville. I am with the member for Oxley; it still is soccer to me. I ran a rugby club in my youth and I know the very real financial pressures on all clubs at all times, and the opportunity to save money at any time can never be ignored. This, I am afraid, is a very small-picture response. What this thing does is provide Football Queensland by licensing these things with another source of revenue, allowing them to reinvest in the sport, including at a junior level—especially at a junior level—and helping them to keep club fees as low as humanly possible. We all know the cost of insurance; we all know the cost of these things that have gone up exponentially. It also allows for the proper paid and professional administration at the highest possible level, and that is where a game will change. That is where a game will go into the 21st century. If you think about where the Queensland Rugby Union was in the 70s and 80s, we were a fantastic team but as a code we were being held back administratively. I think everyone will agree now that the administration of the Queensland Rugby Union is a lot better. I am not sure that the FFA will stand up to that tonight.

I have discussed this motion with Townsville Football and Helen Stalin, who is the administrator and life member of Townsville football, and they have no issue with it. Townsville and North Queensland as a region have a wide range of supplies that are licensed with Football Queensland and through these suppliers clubs are able to choose from a range of different price and quality levels when selecting apparel manufacturers. My son plays for Saint Sand Crabs. They were unlucky on the weekend but football was the winner: they lost one-nil. Of course my son played absolutely brilliantly. They looked sharp and everyone out on the field looked sharp. I helped out with the trophy presentations and medal presentations because it was the end of the junior season in Townsville. To see the kids there in their match uniforms and their post-match uniforms with all their socks, and as the member for Oxley said, everyone wearing boots and everyone wearing shin guards, it is a wonderful thing to see out there. The kids will get out there and enjoy themselves.

Far from increasing the cost and reducing the quality of apparel for regional clubs as the motion suggests, this scheme has helped foster local football with greater investment and lower club fees without impacting the price manufacturers are charging or their choice of supplier. I congratulate Townsville Football on the job they did in the season just passed with Cyclone Yasi going through Townsville. I take this opportunity to heap praise on Greg Riddington, Helen Stallan and all the volunteers and administration staff at Townsville Football. The damage is still being assessed and it is still being fixed post Cyclone Yasi and the tremendous amount of rain we had in the off season.

One of the great things you do when you are there is when all the under-eights, 10s and 12s kids are standing around you get them to give three cheers for all the parents, coaches and managers. I think that is something we should do in here—have the day of the parent, the coach and the manager who take their time and give of their time to take children to sport, to take other people's kids to sport and to have a great time. To the groundspeople that produce a quality product every weekend for not only Townsville Football but for the Razorbacks and what used to be the Fury before the FFA did the dirty on us, should never be underestimated. I would like to say thank you to Townsville Football for another great season and, which ilst I understand the motives behind the member for Oxley bringing this motion forward, I simply cannot support it.

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