Page 2240 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 3 August 2021
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struggle through the COVID year and now this. I do not want to be unemployed, but how will I be able to get a job without a licence?”
My office will be writing to the relevant minister about Steve’s specific case. Narelle got just the one fine, but she also wrote to us in despair. Narelle is on a disability support pension. She said, “There’s no way that I can find an extra $300 out of thin air. I currently have $1.29 to my name and, to make it worse, I’m always an overly cautious, over-the-top safe driver.”
We echo the concerns that have been expressed by the NRMA regarding the lack of warning to motorists about these changes. The NRMA position was that there is little point in having a grace period if indeed you do not send written warnings to those who fall foul during that period.
To put this into perspective, Madam Speaker, up until the opening of these cameras in the CBC, the most lucrative camera was northbound on the Monaro Highway at Hume. My understanding is that it raised $1.2 million in the eight months to May. The new CBD cameras—and granted there are three of them—by all reports, are doing $1.6 million per week. So the new speed zone cameras are making 44 times as much money per week as the previous heist! That seems to me to be a perverse outcome.
Clubs—Majura Football Club
MS VASSAROTTI (Kurrajong) (4.28): I rise today to acknowledge one of the local community institutions in my local region, the Majura Football Club, and highlight some of the fantastic work they are doing to promote grassroots sports and build a strong community. While many of us have got swept up in the excitement of the Olympics and might be a little tired after staying up late to watch the Matildas, it is important to remember that these elite athletes emerge from our community sports.
The world game, football, or what we used to call soccer, is one of the largest participation sports in Australia, with 1.8 million players in 2019. It is a sport that is growing in reputation, particularly in relation to women’s participation, thanks to role models like Sam Kerr, Ellie Carpenter and Michelle Heyman.
Here in the ACT we have a thriving professional and community competition. In 2020 the total participation in football in the ACT was 33,604, despite COVID-19 causing major disruption to the competition during last season.
I acknowledge the work of a previous member of this house, the late Steve Doszpot MLA, who was one of the founding members of ACT football, and the dedicated team at Capital Football who continue to grow the game across the region.
We know that footballers are passionate and loyal, and I particularly share some of the achievements of my local football club, Majura FC. This is a true community club, where the sidelines are full of community catch-up, the parent coaches are passionate—if not still on a learning curve—and the canteen is legendary—the only local football club to boast a variety of vegetarian fare. This is a club that knows its demographic.
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