Page 4187 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 24 October 2018
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ACT are up to scratch to ensure that women can participate. I look forward to more initiatives moving forward.
I had the opportunity yesterday to talk to some members of my community—one of whom I do triathlon with—who have just taken up a new sport, golf. Golf is an interesting sport; I have been lucky enough to have a hit with some clubs and I do not know that I am very good. But the Murrumbidgee Country Club have introduced a new sport for women called swing fit.
I know it is a scary concept to get out there, get the rules right in your head and play a game of golf and enjoy it. Swing fit provides women the opportunity to go to a social gathering, play a bit of golf, learn about the rules, but also have a glass of wine or a lemonade afterwards, have some nibbles, and enjoy the social side of sport. The mental health benefits of getting out in the fresh air and walking around are beyond compare. Swing fit is a good opportunity for women to continue to be able to have fun and enjoy sport while socialising.
In closing, I again thank the ACT government for the work they have done and look forward to hearing more about what we are going to do in the future. I thank everyone who has worked with me and encouraged me over the years to participate in sport. I look forward to helping and encouraging women in the future to ensure that they can participate in whatever sport they would like to.
MS LAWDER (Brindabella) (3.39): I thank Ms Cody for bringing this motion to the Assembly today. I start by saying, “How about those Capitals?” I know Minister Berry shares my enthusiasm for women’s basketball. They have won several games in a row. They have had the WNBL player of the week for the past two weeks in Kia Nurse and Kelsey Griffin. They are going pretty well so far this season.
We have also seen some fabulous AFL women in the capital whom I have enjoyed watching. At this point I would like to give a quick shout out to the University of Canberra women’s Rugby Sevens team who participated in the second Australian Women’s Sevens tournament. It was a tournament that took them right across Australia to compete against other women’s university teams They came sixth overall after five rounds and, perhaps most excitingly, captain Sammie Wood has been selected as part of the extended Australian Wallaroos team for 2018.
We have seen some great strides forward in women’s sport, especially at the elite level, over the past few years. It does not mean that there is not still much to be done. However, the motion that we have before us today is, as we have become used to here, a bit of self-congratulation for the government for what they are already doing. I guess that is fair enough. But the motion is also trying to claim the achievements of others as their own. It is something that we have become a bit used to here.
Paragraph 3 contains the usual criticism of the community contributions scheme. It is another barely disguised attack on the clubs and their community contributions scheme. It asks for the government to investigate ways to increase the share of funding that goes to female sport. Once again, it is the government criticising community clubs and the invaluable support they provide to sport and recreation. That
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