Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment Participation, Training and Sport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Early Childhood Education, Child Care and Youth and Minister for Sport. I refer the minister to the time frame she has set to respond to the Crawford review into sport where she said, ‘Early next year is the end of the year.’ Will the Minister for Sport advise the House whether she will be attending the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne and the New Year’s Test in Sydney? Will the minister also inform the House which of the test matches is at the end of the year and which of these test matches is early next year?

Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare and Youth) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the shadow minister for the first question relating to sport that has been asked by the opposition in two years, and say that some people may know that calendars have not always been my strong point. But just in case there has been any confusion, I am willing to say that the end of the year is indeed the end of the year.

On a more serious point, can I also say that the reason that this has come up—and I know that it is the final day of parliament and we can all have a bit of a joke—is because of the serious overhaul of the Australian sport system. We are committed to ensuring that we strengthen Australian sport at both an elite and a community level. We think that this is incredibly important. It is important to the nation, as the government has pointed out, that we are committed to increasing our support at both an Olympic level and at a community level, and we look forward to responding at the end of the year.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Which comes first?

Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare and Youth) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is great to see your Christmas spirit over there. With regard to your question, I am very excited about the upcoming cricket season and I hope to be able to get to both the Boxing Day Test and the New Year’s Test, one which will be this year and the other which will be next year. Thank you.