Libby Coker (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There has been an overwhelming demand for the Albanese government's Play Our Way program. It's a program that's all about investing in women's sport, and it is the single biggest package for women's sport ever, providing $200 million in funding to help not only our future Olympians, Paralympians, Matildas and Diamonds but also girls and women who just love to compete and play at the local level.

The program has been an amazing success, with many hundreds of clubs applying for the fund. What this shows is that the level of demand for investment in women's sporting facilities and equipment is huge. The number of applications for this fund highlights the level of demand for funding that invests in women's change rooms, equipment and new sporting facilities. But, while demand has been high, with over 1,600 applications from sporting clubs across the nation, our government remains committed to ensuring the department's process is fair, fulsome and respectful of the volunteers who work tirelessly to construct an application. This takes time.

While all things take time, the department has already contacted applicants to stream 1 and informed those who are progressing to the next stage of assessment for that stream. Unsuccessful applicants have also been notified. Organisations who applied for the participation and equipment stream of the fund will be provided with an update in the coming weeks. And I can assure my local clubs that their efforts have not gone unnoticed.

I recently held a forum in my electorate of Corangamite to help communities apply for grants. There was much interest in the Play Our Way grant because the growing number of women playing male dominated sports in my region is increasing, and there is a need for better facilities. Sports like football, basketball, soccer and cricket are seeing a massive surge of popularity amongst women in my rapidly growing region. That's what this Play Our Way grant is all about. The program is designed to fund great ideas at a local level and across a range of sports, to increase women's participation. It's an opportunity for local governments, community organisations, the not-for-profit sector and sporting organisations to show how they can create a better sporting landscape for women and girls across the country.

I should remind the member for Durack that probity and integrity are key parts of the Play Our Way grant process, and the Albanese government is absolutely committed to ensuring the program is well managed. We know it's vital to have a robust process and ensure the best projects receive funding. We want to do this right. We do not want to rely on a colour coded spreadsheet. Again, I want to assure all my local clubs that each application is thoroughly assessed and reviewed to ensure fairness to all applicants and to deliver the best outcomes for women and girls in communities across the country. We want to see grants go to those who need them most, and that's what we're delivering. I look forward to notifying my local clubs on the status of their grant applications very soon.

What has been made clear is that there is a high demand to provide women and girls with greater opportunities to access, participate in and remain involved in sport and physical activity. The Albanese government recognises this. Too often, women have been changing in men's bathrooms, wearing hand-me-down boys uniforms and playing on poorly maintained fields that boys teams would refuse to play on. We know that too many girls drop out of sport and never come back as adults. Play Our Way will address these issues to help women and girls enjoy sport for life.

In closing, we have recently seen a surge in sports participation as more opportunities and choices open up for women and girls. This is increasing participation in sport overall, which is a wonderful thing. Watching so many girls and women getting out and playing footy and cricket has been an absolute joy for me. For me, it's a priority that clubs have the resources to cater for girls and women and to meet current standards and expectations. That's what the Albanese government commitment will deliver, and it's what the Play Our Way program will deliver.

Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There's no doubt, not just across the community of Casey but across all communities in Australia, that investing in sports infrastructure, particularly to drive female participation, is so important and so needed. It's something that I've been speaking about for the 2½ years that I've been a member of parliament.

I've spent my life playing sport in my community. Over the years I've seen the facilities that are not up to standard, but I've also seen the positive impact that those facilities can have. One facility in particular, the Mount Evelyn Recreation Reserve, was recently upgraded, finalised and opened. That was funded in a joint partnership between the federal and state governments and the local council. Tony Smith, the former member for Casey, was a strong advocate and secured that funding. I remember, when I was playing cricket at Healesville against Mount Evelyn, that the club rooms were old and they weren't welcoming. But, when you look at the new clubrooms, they are welcoming and they are fresh. They are revitalising the sporting community in Mount Evelyn.

The Mount Evelyn Football Club has led the way in women's participation in many ways, particularly in AFL, and their junior program is strong. In fact, it is so strong that the Mount Evelyn under-16 girls won their premiership yesterday. I want to send a shout-out to the Mount Evelyn under-16 girls team who won that premiership. I've seen the facilities that they get to enjoy. I know it makes their participation a lot easier.

That's why so many people are frustrated with the delays of the Albanese Labor government and the time it has taken to implement the Play Our Way program. We need to be honest and we need to understand that this announcement was not in the works for the government. They weren't looking to spend any money on female sporting infrastructure until the coalition's $250 million dollar announcement for female sporting community infrastructure across the country.

While the Prime Minister and the Minister for Sport were happy to attend the soccer and cheer on the Matildas, the coalition was actually putting forward policies to deliver on that momentum that was being built. And what did we see a week or two later? The government announced their own $20 million fund. But we know that the fund was an afterthought for the government, because we saw through Senate estimates and different processes that they rushed through a release to the department asking for a fund to be spun up in a week or two. That was the first time that the department had heard about this program. Again, the coalition is leading the way on policy. It is good the government followed us and announced $200 million—$250 million would have been better—but it's taken over 12 months for anything to happen. Not a dollar has been spent despite that fanfare. As David Peel, the secretary of the Seville Cricket Club and a good friend of mine, said recently in the Herald Sun:

If we weren't successful in our application, which is fine, we'd rather know so that we can move on with planning … That's probably the frustration with this one.

And that is the frustration for many community groups across my electorate and many other electorates that have got this growth in female sport but don't have the facilities to match—and they're still waiting.

I was lucky enough to visit two of my old clubs on the weekend: the Monbulk Rangers Soccer Club and Lilydale Montrose United. I've still got a connection to Lilydale Montrose United; my two children, my eight-year-old daughter and my 11-year-old son, play at the club, and I get to referee their games on the weekend when time allows. To see the young boys and young girls running around as equals on the field, enjoying all the benefits of sport—teammates, learning the rules, learning the pain of defeat and the opportunity to grow—is so valuable. That's why we need to continue to invest in female infrastructure.

This is a first step but a delayed step. There's more that needs to be done. While I'm the member for Casey I'll continue to advocate for female sports facilities because every person, every young man and every young girl and woman, should be able to go to their club and participate on an equal playing field, and we know facilities make a big difference to that.

Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm not surprised to hear it's difficult for those opposite to comprehend a grants scheme with integrity at its heart. But, nonetheless, I am very prepared to talk about women's sport and girls' sports. In fact, one of the very first political acts I ever participated in was in primary school, when I organised a petition in my class for girls to be able to play soccer. This is a cause very close and near and dear to my heart, and I'm proud to be part of a government that wants to see more girls and women participate in sport.

We were proud to deliver one of Australia's largest and most comprehensive investments in women's sport, with funding and reforms to help more women play sport. This is the single-biggest package for women's sport facilities ever. Play Our Way represents a $200 million fund to help our next Olympians, Paralympians, Matildas, Diamonds and so many more athletes. I know how passionate my own local community in Chisholm is about this. They are passionate about equality in sport and promoting girls' and women's participation.

I'm pleased that existing projects that I've been working on and advocating for will enhance women's and girls' participation through dedicated infrastructure. It was not too long ago that I had the privilege of turning the sod for a new pavilion at Mount Waverley Reserve. I'm looking forward to seeing that project for the football, netball and cricket club advance; it is a vital piece of community infrastructure that will mean facilities for girls and women and will further encourage their participation in sport.

My community knows how important Play Our Way is. We know that too often women and girls are changing in men's bathrooms or in their cars, wearing hand-me-down boys' uniforms and playing with men's equipment on poor fields that people would never let the boys play on. Too many girls drop out of sport and never come back as women; that's a particular issue with girls as they reach their teenage years. Play Our Way will address these issues to help women and girls enjoy sport for life. The Play Our Way grant program is robust and meticulous by design. We want to help clubs address participation barriers faced by women and girls.

This program was designed by experts to deliver excellent outcomes with lasting positive impacts on a wide range of communities, funding great ideas at a local level and across a range of different sports. This is a wonderful opportunity for local governments, community organisations and the not-for-profit sector and sporting organisations to show how they can create a better sporting landscape for women and girls across the country, and that's what we want to do—create a landscape for women and girls to participate in sport. Part of this is ensuring that the grant process has integrity. I'm really disappointed that the coalition have seemingly learned nothing from their awful sports rorts debacle, where they funded women's facilities for clubs that didn't even have women's teams, simply because they thought it was politically advantageous. I have to say that, when I was elected, I was really shocked when I saw locally the extent to which grants were mishandled. I heard from a number of clubs—and this was really difficult to hear—who were misled and were told things that were not true about their grant applications. They believed that there had been money budgeted and allocated to them by the previous government, and this proved to be false, and there was absolutely no record of paperwork. This is really appalling and so damaging to the community. When you hear stories like this, you understand why people do not have much faith in politicians at times. I will never behave in such a cynical way, and I absolutely believe that there must be integrity, transparency and accountability in grant programs such as this. I don't apologise for that. This is taxpayer money after all.

I am really pleased that we have received more than 1,600 applications from all over Australia for the Play Our Way grants. They are being assessed in the way that I think taxpayers would expect them to be. I'm so pleased to be part of a government that takes girls' and women's sport seriously and takes our responsibility to taxpayers seriously. I commend this motion to the House.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next day of sitting.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 19: 21