Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a Canberra winter. I am not planning to play sport; indeed, in this suit I will not be playing sport. This scarf is simply because of the chill in the cold Canberra night air!

I rise tonight to speak of the fabulous victory by the Australian Diamonds—wait for it, Senator Polley—with a score of 58 to 55 on Sunday at the Allphones Arena, watched by over 16,000 very, very passionate netball fans not only from Australia; I can tell you there was a lot of black and white in there. What is fabulous about this is that not only as a nation is this our 11th world cup victory; but over half a million people, including senators on all sides of the chamber, actually viewed it over the course of the world cup. Around that particular match we had nearly 200,000 Australians viewing women's sport, which I think is absolutely fantastic. I think you will agree with me, Madam Acting Deputy President Peris, that women's sport right now is of rock star status, particularly this week, but I will get to that a little later. I think the wonderful display of strength, skill, strategy and speed, which netball affords its participants, was fantastic and on show in that particular game like nothing else. Despite Maria Tutaia's absolutely fabulous attempts over the course of three quarters to get back the significant lead that Australia smashed from them within the first quarter, they were unable to do it, and we brought home the cup with three goals to spare.

I want to briefly mention to the Senate that I would like to congratulate the Prime Minister for honouring the Diamonds at an official reception on Thursday. I am quite excited. He is probably a bit of a netball dad tragic, as so many here in the parliament are both in this chamber and also in the other chamber. When the Prime Minister makes the statement, as he did today, that women's sport does not always get the attention it deserves, he is right. If we can take anything out of the world cup on the weekend and over the last 10 days, it is that women's sport is here to stay and it is gaining traction in a greater and greater way. That is evidenced by not only the participants—we have over a million netballers here in this country, and they are not all women—but also by the eyeballs in front of TV, which again provides commercial opportunities not only for the organisations but especially for the athletes.

In my own parliamentary team, unfortunately it is not the same story for the Australian parliamentary netballers as it was for the Australian Diamonds. We did try to shine. On the Friday of the Netball World Cup we met with the New Zealand parliamentary team, who had flown over especially for an event that is televised by Sky New Zealand—if anyone is interested. We lined up along the third line, sang our national anthems and went to work. I would like to commend my parliamentary colleagues of varying skill and fitness levels who took to the court for very tough seven by seven minute thirds: Senator Jenny McAllister; Sharon Claydon; my co-captain, Jo Ryan, who is a mad passionate netballer; and of course Senator Connie Fierravanti-Wells, who was our shooter and who did an outstanding job. In fact, I think her percentage of goal shots beat the New Zealand team in the actual match. We went into the final seven minutes four ahead, but unfortunately we lost by four. It was tough, but what I would like to commend to my female senators and members in this place is that we are confident, we are leaders, you need to put your body on the line and we need you in the parliamentary netball team because the five of us had to stay on the court for the entire match to meet the rules of the game.

I would like to praise the co-captains, Louisa Wall, from the Labour Party in New Zealand and also Louise Upston, the Minister for Women, who unfortunately injured herself and was in a Sydney hospital receiving treatment the last time I saw her. I wish her a speedy recovery. I note that they moved a fabulous notice of motion in the New Zealand parliament today congratulating the Silver Ferns, and I hope to do so in the Senate over the coming week. What we were able to do as parliamentarians—as I am on the cusp between five and seven minutes, I am going to seek leave to continue into Senator Canavan's time—not to take his time but just to finish these very important words. Senator Canavan, I am sure you will not mind.

What we were able to do as parliamentarians from across the Tasman was come(Extension of time granted)together and raise money for Netball Australia's foundation program called Confident Girls, which takes sport and its empowering nature to disadvantaged young women in Australia. I would like to congratulate both teams and all those parliamentarians in both places that contributed to the Confident Girls program and who have made a significant donation.

This is on the back of a fabulous week the women's sport where the Opals beat New Zealand 61 to 41, with 82,000 Australians appreciating the privilege on TV. We had a women's AFL exhibition game which, again, was incredibly sponsored and absolutely endorsed by the general public in terms of viewing. The girls did beat the Poms in the ashes—and hats off because Lord knows the boys could not get anywhere on that—and that is on the back of the fabulous response and support that the Matildas received earlier in the year.

As the Prime Minister says, women's sport does not always get the attention it deserves but the role it plays in empowering women and building communities cannot be underestimated or denied. I commend our government and my parliamentary colleagues who participated with me in the competition against the New Zealand parliamentarians as part of the owls—the collective noun for owls is a parliament, just in case you did not know. I hope that we have many more participants going forward. Thank you for your indulgence.