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

It would be no surprise to the member for Newcastle, sitting in the chair this afternoon, that word went around the building that there was an opportunity to speak on sport, and Joanne Ryan, the member for Lalor, raced to the chamber to prepare some notes and talk about sport, and particularly women's sport. We're talking about the Major Sporting Events (Indicia and Images) Protection Amendment Bill 2018 which has, as the member for Makin pointed out, been brought into the chamber at the last minute. I feel it is important to note the tardiness of putting this bill in place, with the extrapolated risks for the international event, the ICC T20 World Cup cricket tournament, to be held in Australia in 2020. Obviously, getting the bill passed today is fairly important to ensure that the indicia and images are protected during this event. There are 12 months leading up to this event, which is why this bill's before us today.

I concur with the member for Kingsford Smith and the member for Makin on the importance of sport in Australian culture—the pleasure and joy it brings to us, and also the way it builds into us our competitive nature, our push to want to be the best that we can be in all aspects of life, which is often learned on our local sporting fields or courts around the nation when we are very young children. We need to note that Australia has been successful in bringing the ICC T20 World Cup to Australia for 2020 and celebrate the fact that this is now a major international event that includes not just men's cricket but, of course, women's cricket. I want to give a big shout-out to Meg Lanning, the current Australian captain. Hopefully, Meg will be fit and firing and leading the Australian T20 team.

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