Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to speak in favour of this motion. The AFL is a really important institution in this country, and particular parts of the AFL are very precious to certain members of this House. I speak as someone who has grown up following AFL since childhood, who is a member of an AFL club, and who, like my colleague the member for Goldstein, has children who feel very deeply about the AFL and aspire to play for Carlton in the future or to umpire an AFL grand final. And I speak as a Victorian, knowing how very deeply Victorians feel about the AFL. The allegations that the member for Clark has raised in this House are serious.

Now, we know that the federal government does support the AFL very significantly, in terms of funding and other material forms of support. That's an important relationship between the federal government and the AFL.

The fact that these allegations have been raised is a significant one, and we deserve transparency about that—not only as taxpayers who have contributed to the funds given to the AFL, but as people who feel very deeply about an important body. So it's for my son, who wants to umpire 300 games for the AFL, and for all of those kids who are going to turn out and play Auskick on Saturday morning. It's so that we can contribute to restoration of the public's faith in a really important body. But it's also so that we can protect young men who are playing for the AFL now and who are, we are to understand, at some risk of being exploited by a system which potentially does not have their best interests at heart.

I think we deserve to hear more, and we need the government to take the appropriate action, which is to cast a light on what is happening at the AFL and whether or not we do have real cause for concern about that.

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