John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you to the member for Lalor for bringing forward this timely motion. Our female athletes are on top of the world right now and are taking out title after title at events around the world. It seems there isn't a court, a field, a fairway, a pool or a wave that is safe from our women athletes and teams. There's been a lot of commentary in the media that we are entering a new age in women's sports, and this is hard to deny.

Ash Barty has been incredible with her win at the French Open and her grace as she claimed the world's No. 1—a grace she shared with Evonne Goolagong, also an Indigenous woman. The Matildas didn't go as far in the World Cup as we might have liked them to, but they beat the world's top teams, and their class shone through. Our women's cricket team is continuing to dominate the world, smashing England—how sweet that is!—overnight in the Ashes in a way which will hopefully provide inspiration to the men's team ahead of their tournament next week. Where controversy has followed our men's team, our great competitors in the women's team have not only risen above but have shown how united teams playing together are hard, if not impossible, to beat. And who can forget that wonderful morning recently when Australians woke up to the news not only of the victories of Ash Barty and our Matildas but also of Hannah Green's victory in the PGA Championship and Sally Fitzgibbons's great result at the World Surf League?

These are great stories, and we are right to celebrate them loudly and proudly. But I take issue with one small part of recent reporting—that is, that this great string of results is somehow unprecedented.

When I was starting out in my tennis career I had the great fortune to train with Margaret Court a year before she took out the Grand Slam in 1970—she must have got confidence from beating me regularly—and I was able to enjoy her extraordinary talents firsthand. She is the champion we remember, but it's important to note that she was a contemporary of many other great women tennis players, including Judy Tegart, who holds nine Grand Slam doubles championships and was a finalist in the first Wimbledon open, and Lesley Turner Bowrey, who did something that Margaret Court or Billie Jean King couldn't do: she beat Margaret Court and Billie Jean King to win the French Open in 1965. Ash Barty's rise to No. 1 has brought up memories of the last time an Australian woman was there: the great Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1976.

On a smaller court, the name Heather McKay isn't one known by many people, but she has a justifiable claim to being Australia's greatest-ever sportsperson. Between 1962 and 1977, she won the British squash open, the pinnacle of the sport, 16 consecutive times, dropping only two sets—not two matches; just two sets—in that time. She was undefeated in competitive squash for over 20 years. This sort of domination in sport is unprecedented.

Back in Bennelong, we were the home of the great 'Ermington Flash', Australia's second highest medallist winner behind Ian Thorpe: the great Betty Cuthbert, who to this day is the only person in history to win Olympic gold in the 100, 200 and 400 metre sprints, a record she has held since the 1960s and a record beyond Usain Bolt and countless other sprinters around the world. I could go on; we have a huge list of great sportswomen that I could talk about for much longer than the time allotted. Greats like Dawn Fraser, Libby Trickett and Shirley Strickland demonstrate the great depth we have in women's sports.

Recent months have seen incredible performances from the likes of Ash Barty, our women's cricket teams and countless others, but they are not unprecedented. Australia has a proud history in sporting success across genders, and we should be rightly proud of this. What is wonderful today is that these victories are visible, that they are being celebrated and that their influence to grassroots is being nourished. The real victory here is in the growing number of girls playing sport. This is great for our health, our society and our community. How good are our Australian sportswomen!

See this speech in context