Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Watching the football on a Saturday has long been a family staple in many households right across the country. But, of course, thanks to both the Labor Party and the Liberal Party, who last year colluded to pass legislation to lock Australians out of being able to watch their footy on free-to-air, that's no longer the case. A deal between the Murdoch owned Foxtel and the AFL has meant that football on Saturday is now not free. You've got to whack out your credit card in order to watch your favourite team play. Last weekend, the Adelaide Crows and Port Power were both playing, and South Australians couldn't watch it for free. They couldn't watch it without getting out their credit card, signing up, having a subscription and having to pay. This is un-Australian, anti-sport and anti-community.

The Greens fought hard to stop both the Labor Party and the Liberal Party doing this last year, yet they rammed through the legislation in the middle of a busy week at the end of the last winter session. Let me tell you, the Greens will introduce legislation to reverse this and to put football back on free-to-air. The Greens will act, because neither the Labor Party nor the Liberal Party will. They've locked Australians out of being able to watch their footy for free, and the Greens will bring it back. If you care about footy, don't vote for these two mobs; vote for the Greens.