Page 5169 - Week 16 - Wednesday, 27 November 1991
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The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs report on equity for women in sport had doubts about the strength, stamina and physique requirement. There was a suggestion that it should be eliminated. Their view was that exemptions should provide that the same range and levels of competition should be offered to both sexes on the basis of demand, and that physiological differences, for example, in gymnastics where you have physiological differences, should result in specific exemptions. Another House of Representatives standing committee, again reporting on sport, believed that gender differences should be acknowledged and valued, not competitively compared.
So, I say again that we have effectively adopted what appears to be a recognition of the status quo in this Territory; in other words - I am sure Mr Stefaniak is listening somewhere, wherever he is - this clause deals with the exclusion of women, for example, from certain of the male sports, and vice versa. In gender terms there may well be a neutral effect in terms of which gender is most excluded; but it is an issue that needs to be looked at down the track, in my view. I believe that this provision is appropriate at this time, but I flag it as one for us to do some work on.
I think the record should show, particularly for the Women's Electoral Lobby and for the House of Representatives standing committees, that we are bringing in a compendious piece of legislation. We have been very innovative in some areas. This is an area that needs to be approached carefully and consultatively. I do not believe that we yet have the proper centralised sporting overview in this Territory to enable us to get going a fully independent review and a proper and thorough community consultation as to how we could start to develop gender equity and equity and access issues for women, and particularly girls' sports, in the Territory.
That was an issue, as some members know, which was discussed at the sports summit the other night. There was no disagreement, from just about all of the leading representatives there, with the notion mentioned by some speakers that the question of equity of access and women's and girls' involvement in sport needs to be looked at. So, I put on the record, and I do not see any members of the Assembly disagreeing, that that is an issue that we are conscious of and are looking at. It will obviously be one that will exercise the next Assembly.
MR DUBY (9.52): I, for one, anyway, would like an explanation by the Government of exactly what paragraph 40(2)(d) intends to achieve. It says that the subsection relating to discrimination on the grounds of sex in sport does not apply in relation to "any prescribed sporting activity". I was hoping that someone might be able to clarify that in my mind before I came to a position on that particular part of the legislation.
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