Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the need to pick up the pace of funding facility upgrades for community sport. I've made it my mission during my first term to train with every football and netball club in my electorate. I've already visited many clubs and I am thoroughly enjoying the training.

Country sporting clubs are a great way to connect with people. But you also see firsthand the ageing, outdated and—in the context of burgeoning female participation in the AFL—totally inadequate facilities.

Example No.1 is where I started my football career: Murchison-Toolamba Football Netball Club. When the AFL audited 3,000 facilities in Victoria, Murchison-Toolamba Football Netball Club President Craig Thompson confirmed publicly that the club ranked in the bottom 10 per cent. He described it in one word: 'embarrassing'. The tiny female changing room has space for three players at a time and has one shower. This year, the club has 80 netballers in eight teams and 10 girls playing football at junior level. Despite the lack of facilities, the female participation rate has gone up, and that's a credit to the players and the club.

Example No. 2 is Longwood Football Netball Club. Longwood has six netball sides but no dedicated female facilities. President Ricki Shiner told me on game day at Redlegs Stadium that there are 130 players, two toilets and no showers. Women change behind a curtain in a shed.

We can't promote female participation and not provide facilities. Netball remains strong, and women's footy is growing rapidly.

When the AFL Victoria's 'Heartland Strategy' for community facilities was originally released in 2014, there were a hundred women's teams in the state. Since then, the growth in AFL women's participation has been staggering.

Growth and inclusion is outpacing antiquated facilities across many sports. AFL CEO Gill McLachlan, in an editorial published ahead of the 2023 season, said:

The growth of our game has also created the need for new and upgraded facilities that are welcoming and inclusive, which is why we're aiming to build or develop an oval a week for five years.

An estimated 1,040 venues in Victoria have gaps in their facilities, and too many have a lack of unisex changing rooms. Clubs can't fund upgrades alone. Local government has limited or no ability to redevelop grounds or build new ones. The Victorian government is taking up a little of the slack through the Country Football Netball Program, but it is the Australian federal government that needs to step up and invest in inclusive facilities that foster greater participation. The coalition had the Building Better Regions Fund and the Community Development Grants Program to fund these projects, and in the last terms of government many were funded. This government created its own regional grant streams in October, but nearly six months later it hasn't released guidelines or a single dollar. Please, get on with it. Show some respect to regional communities, and let's build the facilities that foster communities to be involved in community sport.