Page 745 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 20 March 2018
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the community and what they need is not complicated—they need investment to do what they do best. I implore the government to start listening to the needs of local clubs. This will go a long way to encouraging girls and women in sport.
MR RATTENBURY (Kurrajong) (3:57): I am pleased to take the opportunity to speak about the importance of sports grants for supporting women’s and girls’ sport in Canberra. In recent years the profile of women’s sport has been increasing tremendously, and that has been very rewarding. Certainly the ACT government, over the years, has been a good supporter of women’s sport. I certainly know that in my time as the minister for sport some of our female teams were particularly successful and had a particularly high profile.
There is a great history in Canberra: Canberra United has been a foundation member of the W-League since its formation in 2008. It is the only squad not to be affiliated with a men’s club in Australia, and that shows a successful women’s club can stand in its own right. Of course, they have been very successful, playing finals eight times, finishing the season on top of the ladder three times and being grand final champions on two occasions.
When it comes to successful Canberra women’s teams, we cannot go past the Capitals. They first competed in the WNBL in 1986 and competed in nine grand finals, winning seven titles, which are both WNBL records.
We just saw the GWS Giants, with a strong Canberra connection, just miss out on the grand final for this coming weekend in the AFLW. Disappointing to see the Giants go down at the end, but it was great to see them kicking off in Canberra. A number of Canberra players were on the team—three, in fact—in the recent victory over the Western Bulldogs, and we have our fingers crossed for them for next season. The beautiful thing about football is that there is always next season.
On the weekend we saw the Brumbies Women take part in the very first game of Super W women’s rugby. I know they had a tough game on the weekend and the result was not what they were hoping for, but it is great to see the Brumbies represented in that new competition. I know the Canberra Raiders are looking at having a team in the new NRL women’s competition. That will not be in the first season, but I know it is on the radar for the future. Of course, the local women’s rugby league competition remains strong and is continuing to grow. There is a fine tradition of female rugby league in Canberra.
I mention these various sports to demonstrate the fact that they are very vibrant, growing and getting increasing amounts of coverage, all of which I think are very positive for women’s sport. When it comes to funding and financial equity, though, it is clear that that is not the case. Ms Cheyne highlighted average salaries as one way of demonstrating that. I did some research and was interested in the way the ACT’s community contribution scheme from clubs has been directed when it comes to women’s sport. Under that program clubs are given an incentive to contribute to women’s sport, being allowed to claim $4 for every $3 of actual contributions, so an incentive has been put in place, which I think is a positive thing.
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