Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Recently I announced that the Albanese government will be delivering $1 million to Surfing Australia for the New Wave of Female Boardriders project. This is an exciting new project, which aims to increase boardrider club membership for women in surfing, access to more surfing equipment and facilities and also increase the women in official and senior positions within surfing. Through this process, Surfing Australia will create another 50 women's focused boardrider clubs across the country to provide coaching and training sessions. They'll also host an annual women's training and development conference at the High Performance Centre in Casuarina, which is in my electorate, and they'll be hosting that every year.

The High Performance Centre in Casuarina was delivered by the previous Labor government. I was very proud to open that centre in 2012. We delivered the $2 million to build it. It was the first surfing high-performance centre within the country. Since that time, it has gone from strength to strength. That's why it's so exciting to now be announcing the million dollars in funding for this really exciting new project.

This funding is from the Play Our Way program, which is designed to remove barriers to women and girls participating in sport and physical activity. It was a wonderful occasion at the opening, with many great surfers and coaches there. In fact, Surfing Australia Chief of Sport, Luke Madden, said on the day:

This investment—

the investment from our government—

is a game-changer for women's surfing. We're creating a pathway that will see more women involved in surfing at every level—from beginners in local boardrider clubs to female coaches on the beach. It's … about opening doors for more women to embrace surfing and stay connected, making the sport more inclusive for everyone.

We had a whole range of great speakers, including Hannah Jessup, who's the co-founder of the first all-female boardriders clubs on the Gold Coast, just to the north of us. Her club is called Surf Witches Boardriders Club. Hannah said:

We've seen a huge growth in women's surfing, especially on the Gold Coast. Our memberships sell out every year, which reflects the demand for more clubs like ours. Women from all over Australia reach out to us, asking how they can start their own clubs, so I think this grant will have an incredible impact on the women's surf community across the country.

Since we announced it, we've had a huge number of people across the country reaching out to Surfing Australia.

On the day, we also had Jade Wheatley, who is the president of the Currumbin Alley Boardriders club and a surf coach, speaking. She said:

As a female surf coach, I've had amazing support from male coaches, but now I see little girls who want to follow in my footsteps.

She said that so many young girls come up to her and say, 'I want to be a surfing coach just like you.' That's at the heart of what this grant is all about: encouraging more women and girls to get involved in surf lifesaving and have these clubs where they feel comfortable to get involved, learn new skills and have access to new training and mentorship. We're very proud to be delivering on this important funding commitment.