Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In this constituency statement I want to talk about one of the most exciting developments in my community in quite some time—the launch of the AFL women's competition and the early return of footy to VU Whitten Oval in Footscray.

My community has embraced the launch of the AFL women's comp with enormous enthusiasm. More than 10,000 thousand people from Melbourne's west—including my daughter and I—turned out to see the Daughters of the West victorious over the hapless Fremantle Dockers in their first match in the comp. Commiserations to the members for Fremantle, Brand and Melbourne in this respect. And the crowds have remained strong through the season with almost 7,000 fans—including my son and I—suffering the indignity of seeing the dogs loose to Collingwood last weekend.

The overwhelming—shamefully unanticipated—and long-awaited success of the historic first season of the AFLW sends a strong statement about the importance of gender equality. Football has always captured the hearts and minds of Australians, and this new brand of Australian football is not only inspiring a generation of girls and women in our community to take up the great game but also sending a clear message to boys and men about gender equality.

The AFL women's comp brings long overdue recognition to elite female footy players and shows that the hard work of our female athletes is worthy of the attention and attracts community support. This has been amply demonstrated since the competition started.

I have loved watching acting dogs captain, Ellie Blackburn's, ability to find the ball and get boot to ball even in the toughest of circumstances and I have wrung my hands at the absence of star forward and inaugural captain, Katie Brennan, to injury in much the same way that I lamented the absence of the captain Bob Murphy from the men's premiership-wining Western bulldogs team last year.

The AFL women's comp paves the way to opportunity. It paves the way to respect. It is a defiant rebuttal of the prevailing culture that condones violence against women in our society. The AFL women's comp breaks gender norms like Emma Kearney busting a pack, and it is fighting the gendered stereotypes that support violence against women.

Indeed, Our Watch, the national foundation to end violence against women and their children, has recognised the critical role that footy and footy clubs play in the prevention of violence against women in our community. I want to congratulate the Western Bulldogs, their management team and their board on the extraordinary leadership that they have shown on this front in Melbourne and in the competition at large. The leadership role that Susan Alberti has played in this respect has been very well covered but she has been supported at all levels of the club. I want to give my thanks to the club for championing gender equality through footy.

With the addition of the AFL women's team to the existing AFL and VFL Western Bulldogs teams, the new Western Bulldogs slogan says it all: 'Three teams. One club'. As a foundation member of the AFL Western Bulldogs Women's Team I cannot wait for the rest of the AFLW season. Go Dogs! (Time expired)