Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Thursday morning I had the pleasure of participating in the launch of the Legacy Cup, an annual event as part of Legacy '23 in women's football. Not surprisingly, the former Matildas were the victors in the game of football, beating the parliamentary football team 6-4, so they hold the trophy. Even though I have it here, I'm holding it on behalf of Senator Nita Green who's on maternity leave. There were three senators involved in the match: Senator Watts, Senator Chisholm and Senator Canavan, all Queenslanders like me. We were joined by a couple of Matildas, including Ashleigh Sykes, but couldn't compete against their superior skills. Hosting the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2023 is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to realise a truly meaningful legacy for football, which is what this is all about. It's an ambitious plan to ensure we deliver positive and enduring benefits for Australia's largest community sport beyond 2023.

The five pillars are participation, community facilities, leadership and development, tourism and international engagement, and high performance. We know that sport is important and that football is an inclusive platform that can deliver economic, health and social benefits to more Australians than ever before. As I finish I would like to go on the record to apologise to the Matildas that I played against. I've played a lot of rugby league and rugby union and did some bad slide tackles, so I do apologise.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 16:23 to 16: 33