Page 4190 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 24 October 2018
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We do not agree that there needs to be an intervention in the community contributions scheme. Stop the big brother approach to private industry and telling business how to do their business but look at ways you can provide tangible support to sports clubs and the way that you can encourage more participation and recreation opportunities for all Canberrans, especially women.
This is the way that we are moving towards equality. Sometimes it seems to be taking a very long time and we would like to see the pace of change be quicker. But a big brother approach or a big stick approach is not necessarily the best way to achieve this. We are opening up more opportunities for women all the time, and that is exactly as it should be.
We need to ensure that people with an interest in a sport get the support they need, that they get the infrastructure and facilities around them. This is already happening at the grassroots level. I hope that the government will continue to enable clubs to allocate their community contributions because in most cases—I do not think it is absolutely equitable at this point—clubs are providing almost as much for men’s and women’s sport.
Despite the growing excitement around women’s sport, only two women made the top 50 sports earners list in Australia. Largely that was due to sponsorship, not prize money or wages. In the same way, female sport receives only seven per cent of Australian TV sports coverage and nine per cent of sports coverage on the news. This is one of those chicken and egg arguments about which comes first. We know the very common phrase, “You cannot be what you cannot see.” But I think many young girls and children can see the excellent sports models, whether it is in netball, basketball, football or any other of our myriad of sporting codes. They can see the examples out there.
We need to encourage them, especially when they are becoming young women and have body image questions and other questions about whether they wish to continue in sport. These are some of the very tangible things that we can do to encourage young girls to continue on the sporting path and to take advantage of their natural talent, their hard work and their training to become the very best sportsperson they can be, whether that is an elite sportsperson or playing at the community level, because everyone has a different aspiration and a different goal through their participation.
MS ORR (Yerrabi) (3.53): I thank my colleague Ms Cody for bringing this motion here today. When I read Ms Cody’s motion I thought of a sports bar I know of. Near the entrance of the venue is a long rod. Draped over the rod are the jerseys of Australian athletes who have made it big in the US, players like Andrew Bogut who tasted NBA championship success with the Golden State Warriors and Canberra’s own Patty Mills who did the same with the San Antonio Spurs, and fellow Canberran Dante Exum, a first round NBA draft pick, also gets a spot. As I stood there looking at this row of athletes, many of whom were connected to Canberra in some way, it got me once again reflecting on the little territory that could.
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