Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday, many people—particularly in the states of Victoria and WA—would have turned on their TVs to watch the telecast of football. AFL is big in our states. But yesterday, if you turned on just after 12 o'clock, you would have seen for the first time ever the first women's football team to be telecast here in Australia. It was an historic day for women's footy and a proud day for many of us who have been associated with women's footy, whether as girls, junior girls, Auskick or the local women's football team.

In my own electorate of Bendigo we have the Bendigo Thunder. After a tough season last season, this year they have rallied and the girls have improved. On the weekend they had a cracking win over a team that travelled from Melbourne. They won by about 50 points. In our area, this is how women's footy is providing women with the opportunity to compete in the sport who were denied that opportunity a few years ago.

It was also announced yesterday that the AFL plans to launch a premier league for women's footy—a professional league—in 2017. So, in the coming years women will be on the same stage as men. However, we have a lot of work to do as a community and a long way to go to ensure that women in sport have professional pay—whether that be for football or for netball.