Page 4191 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 24 October 2018
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However, I still could not help but think one thing: where is Lauren Jackson’s spot? Jackson’s decorated career takes in an extensive range of achievements that cannot adequately be detailed here; yet a sports bar seeking to celebrate the achievements of Australian athletes, particularly those from Canberra, does not have a space for her!
This is an important aspect of the motion before us here today. This motion is essentially about culture and the role that we, as parliamentarians, have in influencing it. We, as leaders of our community, have the capacity, the platform and the responsibility to lead cultural change, and women’s sport is a space where continued shifts can only move us forward. The oversight of that sports bar is not their fault. Rather, it is reflective of a culture that has left women athletes behind. We need a continued effort to shift the attitude toward women’s sports and we, as leaders in our community, must continue to challenge people’s views.
Recent times have brought enormous progress in women’s sport. The introduction of the women’s big bash league, Suncorp super netball, AFLW, Super W, and NRLW are just not an alphabet soup but a sign of a cultural shift in the way that we view women’s sport. However, it should be noted that competitions like the Super W, the women’s counterpart to the super rugby, did not offer to pay its athletes and when the AFL proposes a shortened AFLW season, relegating it to a token gesture replacing a tired and unloved men’s pre-season competition, we need to call it out for what it is.
I am a proud supporter of the Gungahlin Jets, the home of the GWS Giant Britt Tully. This year Britt won AFL Canberra’s Mary Ann Bainrot medal for best and fairest for the third time in a row. This is the first time that this has been done and will probably be the only time ever. Call me biased but I want to see a player like Britt given every opportunity to play at the peak of the game. I call on the AFLW to extend the 2019 season and give the competition the platform it needs to continue to grow. I would also like to take a moment to congratulate Maddie Shevlin from the Jets who just yesterday was drafted at pick 19 to the Collingwood Magpies in the AFL draft.
Women’s participation in AFL grew by 34 per cent in the ACT-South Coast region in 2017. As more and more women take up sports like Aussie rules, Rugby and cricket, our facilities need to change to meet this new need. I recently hosted a making space initiative—actually it was the one in April this year—where we heard from Sue Cadman, another mighty Gungahlin Jets player. Sue spoke about the specific needs that women require from community facilities when participating in sport. For many of the men in the room, this came as a real surprise. But this government is taking steps to improve women’s access to sport.
The motion before us today calls on the ACT government to continue to promote both community and professional women’s sport. We are upgrading facilities to better accommodate women. We are improving the safety of sportsgrounds and community facilities and we are reconfiguring change rooms and bathrooms. I support the motion here today when it calls on the ACT government to continue to ensure that our sporting facilities offer access for everyone to participate in organised sport.
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