Page 1106 - Week 04 - Thursday, 22 April 2021
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would ever imagine that women would go and play football on a sports field anywhere? Who would ever imagine that happening?
Under my leadership, with the Sport and Recreation portfolio, the ACT government has been improving women’s participation in sport by improving those facilities and making sure that they are more inclusive; making sure that there is increased and more certain funding for our elite athletes, the Canberra Capitals and Canberra United teams; and ensuring that our sports organisations that receive triennial funding from the ACT government have at least 40 per cent of women representatives on their boards.
When I suggested that we needed to increase women’s participation in those sports organisations, there were suggestions that the world might fall in. It did not. They managed to find women who were able to do that work. Crazy, I know! Now, all those women are happily engaged, and those sports communities have much more diversity of experience and knowledge because of women’s representation on those sports boards. I will not forget—I need to remind some of the newer members in this place—Mr Milligan’s previous comments about the ridiculous amount of focus on women’s sport in the ACT. I remind everybody about his interest in women’s participation in sport before he starts suggesting that the ACT government is not doing that work.
With regard to participation in sport—particularly for those in our community who might not ordinarily have the chance—before the election ACT Labor committed to an expansion of bursaries within our schools for parents and families and young people who might need a hand up to be able to participate in sport or access other items that they might need for their education or outside school. That will be expanded across our primary, high school and college systems. We also have the Housing ACT participation grants, which Ms Vassarotti and I have announced today. There are 120 individuals accessing those participation grants—doubled because of the increased need within that community, particularly through COVID. The ACT government also partners with a charity organisation Every Chance to Play, which provides funding for families and individuals who need that support most. There is a lot of work already happening to make sure that, in a very targeted way, funding and support go to individuals that need it most.
The ACT government has two pieces of work in 2021. We are working closely with the sector to do them. They include the review of the sport and recreation grants program and the sport and recreation strategic plan. Last year during the bushfires, as everybody was coming to terms with a reduction in sport and recreation activity because of the impact of smoke and heat on our sports community, I indicated a specific plan to take into account the change to our climate and how sports would be able to continue, moving forward, with regard to, particularly, increases in heat due to climate change. I look forward to working with our sports community on that.
The ACT government also continues to invest in infrastructure. I have already talked about the upgrades to pavilions, particularly to ensure that they are more female friendly and inclusive for everyone. Our investment in infrastructure in the last term totalled $122 million across our city.
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