Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) places on record that the:

(a) recently completed 2015 ANZ Championship has taken on new importance on the Australian sporting calendar;

(b) ANZ Championship cross Tasman competition has been significant in increasing the profile of the sport through live television coverage and internet streaming; and

(c) Netball World Cup is happening in Sydney throughout August, involving 16 international teams in 64 matches over 10 days at Sydney Olympic Park; and

(2) congratulates:

(a) the Australian Diamond players, coaching and medical staff on their preparation and performance in this tournament;

(b) the Trans Tasman Netball League for the innovations they have delivered to netball;

(c) the International Netball Federation; and

(d) Netball Australia for its impact in boosting the profile of women in sport, providing its members with valuable leadership skills and supporting world class athletes.

I rise tonight to speak to this Private Member's Business motion to support and to celebrate the fact that the world championships in netball are happening in Australia, as I stand in the chamber this evening. The International Netball Federation and Netball Australia are hosting the international championships, the world cup of netball, in Sydney. This has been running since 1963. It is an absolute celebration for those of us who love the sport of netball and for those of us who grew up playing the sport of netball. The level of competition that we are watching at home on our television screens or at the stadium in Sydney is absolutely exemplary. A lot of that goes to the ANZ championships that have been run trans-Tasman by Australia and New Zealand over the last few years. The standard of netball has improved exponentially. The professionalism of the elite athletes that we are seeing on display is extraordinary. I want to mark this and mark it in a very special way.

As a young girl who played netball, it was not within my purview to watch even a state team play a game of netball. I grew up with my brothers watching their heroes every week on our television screen, playing football or cricket. For me, maybe a small segment of the Herald Sun wouldcover the state championships or the national championships. I look at the young girls I coach today and hear, as I did last Saturday morning, the excitement in their voices that they can see their heroes, those girls, on court, on national television. It is extraordinary.

I also want to comment on what was an incredible welcome to country at the opening ceremony. What an opening ceremony! The welcome to country was performed Marcia Ella-Duncan—someone I remember seeing play and someone I admired as a player. There was such poise, such grace, such integrity in that fine welcome to country, which was then followed by some dancing. For me, the most important event of the evening at the opening was the song Who run the world? Girls. That was the highlight for me, and I am sure it was the highlight for many young girls around the country.

It would be negligent of me not to congratulate the women who lead the administration of netball internationally. It would be negligent of me not to acknowledge the women and men who umpire, coach and play netball. I see the member for Moreton in the chamber, and we know what a great netballer he is.

I would also like to make some personal points about the game of netball. It is a unique game. It takes a whole team to move the ball down the court. It takes a whole team to deliver on the strategy. But, most of all, it is musical. It is rhythmic. It is brutal at times but it is beautiful. It is like jazz music—each player forming a riff as they move for the take and the pass of the ball, and the next player adding to that music and taking their own pitch to it. It is a delight to watch netball on Saturday morning at the Rex Centre in Werribee. It is an absolute delight to watch the international competition that is occurring on our shores at the moment.

I would encourage all in this parliament and all across the country to get behind the world cup of netball and to get behind the ANZ Championship. Get tweeting NWC2015. That is your hashtag. Get tweeting and support our girls. With the member for Rankin in front of me—particularly the member for Rankin—members around me and other members who are also wearing scarves as they come into the chamber, it would be remiss of me not to mention the fabulous, the glorious, the wonderful Laura Geitz, Captain of the Queensland Firebirds, obviously, but, more importantly, Captain of the Australian Diamonds. This woman is an absolute role model to young girls across this country in the way in which she leads that team and in the way in which she plays that game. No-one shirks a ball in the Australian netball team—and Laura Geitz leads them in that. There is not a contest that she does not go to. She sees the ball early, she commits her mind and her body, and she goes after it. Go Diamonds!

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