Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that the Government's Play Our Way program:

(a) was announced 12 months ago, as a back-foot response to the Opposition's $250 million announcement for supporting community sporting infrastructure across the country;

(b) has left community sporting organisations in the lurch, with program applicants still unaware if they have been successful and frustrated by funding uncertainty; and

(c) was just more policy on the run from the Government, which has been proven by this significant, unexplained delay; and

(2) calls on the Government to:

(a) stop prioritising photo opportunities over the real action needed to support sports participation in Australia; and

(b) support the sporting infrastructure communities need as more young Australians are inspired to get out there and get active, and immediately provide an update on the Play Our Way program.

Well, the lack of sleep was worth it, wasn't it, to watch our athletes in Paris achieve our highest Olympic medal tally ever? It is a real credit to the efforts of every single one of them, but we should recognise that no-one gets there on their own. From the parents to the coaches to the sporting clubs, so much has got to go right for an athlete to reach the top level, and a big part of that is ensuring access to the right facilities, which was the promise of Labor's Play Our Way program.

Let's remember the context of Labor's policy announcement. During the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, our Matildas were remarkable, and there was a real belief that they could go all the way. The Prime Minister then promised a one-off public holiday if they won the tournament. This was a popular stunt, of course, that would have cost the economy some $2 billion and would have adversely impacted small businesses when they could least afford it.

Well, we believed in an alternative approach that would build on the legacy of our female sporting heroes in a positive and transformative way. So we announced our commitment to deliver $250 million towards ensuring that women and young girls playing grassroots sport have access to appropriate and improved facilities. We also announced we would seek state and territory funding to match our investment, generating a total investment of $500 million. Just days after our announcement, Labor announced a program of their own. While this was, as this motion describes, a backfoot response to our announcement, I still welcomed it. I welcomed this investment because there is a real need to improve sporting infrastructure across Australia, especially regional Australia.

However, here we are, 12 months after Labor's announcements, with nothing to show for it. Community sporting organisations have been left in limbo, with clubs that are still unaware of whether they've been successful. This, of course, grinds those sporting organisations' plans to upgrade to a halt. This delay makes clear that this was simply more policy on the run by this government and that those opposite, once again, care more about the announcement than the delivery.

At last week's Parliamentary Friends of The AFL event, it was great to hear we now have the first generation of girls who have a direct pathway from Auskick all the way to a professional national competition. However, as the Leader of the Opposition said at that event, much of the sporting infrastructure that exists is not inclusive of girls. In many places, girls are still expected to use the same change rooms as boys or, in some cases, there is simply no capacity to expand game time to include girls. That is simply not good enough in 2024.

I've been very pleased to advocate on behalf of clubs in my own electorate of Durack and to have previously secured grant funding. For example, in 2019 I was pleased to deliver a $150,000 grant towards upgrades ensuring that women in the Great Northern Football League had access to their own change facilities, but there is more to be done. The Kalannie Hockey Club have written to me about their need for new portable goals on wheels. They play on dirt pitches, and they require the might of the men's footy team to help them move the current set. Just a small investment would be sufficient in enabling the club to source these goals. The West Kimberley Junior Football League has also told me they have reached maximum capacity, with no ability to establish more teams. They also need to improve their storage facilities, with equipment for their 26 teams currently being stored in multiple people's homes. More recently, I enjoyed catching up with the hardworking Cath Widdup. She's the president of the Port Hedland Netball Association, and we discussed the desperate need for a roof over their netball courts. It's the Pilbara. It's hot. This infrastructure is a must.

Let me conclude by talking about the power of sport. As a former basketballer, a former netballer and a 21-year member of the Fremantle Football Club, I can testify that sport brings people together. Participating in sport is so important for the mental and physical health of our young people. Only today we saw more reporting about the number of hours children are spending on social media. I think we'd all agree it would be much better for our children if they spent more time outside on the sporting field than on their devices. So I call on the government: stop the delay, step up and support our sporting clubs. More than ever, our regional Australian sporting clubs need you.

Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Zoe McKenzie (Flinders, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sport is the heartbeat of our communities. From early morning soccer matches at the local park to netball games under the evening lights, sport brings us together, fosters a sense of belonging and instils values beyond the field.

In my electorate of Bennelong, I've seen firsthand how sports transform lives. I've watched local clubs grow from humble beginnings into vibrant community hubs that offer so much more than just a place to play. I worked alongside Bennelong sporting clubs for over a decade in my capacity as a mayor and a councillor before coming to this place, and I know that sports fields are a place of learning, support and opportunity. In Australia, they are essential to the social fabric of our communities. But, for sport to continue to play this vital role, we must ensure it is accessible to everyone. The Play Our Way program is not, as the opposition suggests, a reactionary measure. It's a cornerstone of our government's commitment to inclusivity, designed to address longstanding inequities in sports participation, particularly for women and girls.

Over the past decade, women's participation in sports has boomed, and local councils and their sportsgrounds have struggled to deal with the demand. The Play Our Way program is designed to address these longstanding issues. It's designed to help girls and women have fair and equal access to the same sporting opportunities as boys and men. These funds will help address shortfalls with upgrades to sporting facilities, building unisex change rooms and increasing lighting around sporting grounds so that women and girls are safe at night.

Looking at this motion by the member for Durack, I have to say it's a bit of an own goal—pardon the pun—because it gives me the opportunity to compare and contrast the record of this government with that of the last government. This government will not take lectures from those opposite about funding sporting facilities. The Liberals and Nationals are the lot who brought a sports rort scandal, where public funds were used to benefit Liberal Party marginal seats. They are the ones who handed out grants based on colour-coded spreadsheets, not on clubs' or communities' actual needs. They are the lot who funded facilities for women's sports clubs when they didn't even have women's teams in the club. It wasn't just an ethical failure; it was an absolute scandal. Over 400 legitimate, highly rated applications for their sports rorts program were ignored in favour of projects chosen for their potential to secure votes.

Unlike those opposite, our government is committed to integrity and fairness in sports funding. The Play Our Way program is set up so that all applications are assessed independently and thoroughly. They will be needs based and, believe it or not, will be delivered to clubs and organisations that actually apply for the funding. We will not take advice from the Liberals and Nationals on this issue. We've engaged with experts across sport and government, including through the establishment of an independent and expert advisory panel, to ensure that this program delivers the best possible outcome for women and girls in communities across Australia. This process is rigorous and meticulous. We've received over 600 applications from every corner of the country, each one representing a unique community with specific needs. To rush this process would be a disservice to those communities and would undermine the very purpose of this program.

In my electorate of Bennelong, I have seen firsthand the excitement and anticipation that this program has generated. Local clubs that have long struggled with inadequate facilities are eager for the support that Play Our Way will provide. These are clubs where girls are still changing in men's bathrooms and playing on substandard fields. I've worked closely with many of these clubs over the years, advocating for their needs and supporting their growth. I know how desperately they need this funding not just to improve their facilities but to create an environment where women and girls feel welcome and encouraged to participate in sports. The Play Our Way program is designed to do just that.

This government wants to support projects that have a long-term impact by fostering a culture of inclusivity, and we will do that by ensuring that every dollar is spent openly and transparently and that each application has gone through an independent and thorough process.

Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy Affordability) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Play Our Way—well, the girls of today aren't going to be able to play anything, because things have been so delayed by this government. It is quite extraordinary. When I go out to local sporting clubs across my electorate, one of the things that they say to me is that they really miss those grants that the coalition had put in place to support grassroots sport and grassroots activity.

We know that this is really important from a very young age. I just came off the parliamentary inquiry into diabetes, and one of the big outcomes was that there is not enough investment in sport and activity for our young people. The communities that are most impacted are those that have socioeconomic disadvantage. It's really disappointing that, after the government made this announcement, 12 months ago, there are local sporting clubs out there just dying for upgrades but nothing is being done. Meanwhile, our kids are not getting the support that they need to be active, to be healthy, to be out there and participating in sport.

We look at young girls in particular. This is the best time for them to be able to do that. We have so much inspiration from our sporting stars, from the Matildas to Jess and Noemie Fox, who are constituents in my electorate of Lindsay. These are great sporting champions. You've got the elite part of sport, and that trickles down to grassroots sport. Now is the time that we should have that investment in our local sporting clubs while young girls are looking to these Olympic champions and these are sporting champions across every single sporting code. But what are they getting? They're once again getting a government that promises the world and delivers very little.

Community organisations are run by volunteers. These are volunteers that invest so much time, so much energy and so much passion into development of kids in sport and to our local community sports organisations. For them to put grants together is no easy feat. They are volunteers that work, they are parents and they don't have specific grants expertise—that's for sure—so it's a big deal for a local organisation to put a grant together, and they feel like they've been let down, because nothing is happening. They've put their time in, so why isn't the government returning that same effort and at least letting them know how they're going with the application process? We know that this announcement by the government was a back-foot response to our $250 million of investment into sporting infrastructure across the country, which was actually making a difference to local sporting groups. It was making a difference, with kids being healthier and more active and was particularly making a difference to girls in sport.

Like all of us, I have been to lots of local sporting clubs and lots of local sporting grounds, gone to those bathrooms and seen what a disgraceful situation it is for young girls to have to get changed in dirty old change rooms with the boys. Our investment in that was really key, and we need more investment like that. Our local sporting clubs really should not be at the other end of policymaking on the run when we have a government here that is more interested in photo opportunities. I've seen it myself in my local community: they don't invite the local member to participate in activities in their own community. They come in, they take the photo and they leave again. Unfortunately for our local sports clubs right now and particularly those that have an interest in investing in young girls in sport, they're being left with absolutely nothing.

On the back end of the Olympic Games, now is the time for the Albanese Labor government to be taking more of an interest in the future of sport in our country and in the future of girls' sport in particular. Let these clubs know exactly where they stand.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the date will be made an order of the day for a later hour.