Grievance Debate

Adelaide Lightning Women's Basketball Team

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (15:10): Today I rise to speak about an issue that has been bubbling away in sporting circles around Adelaide for a number of months; and time is ticking. We have only a couple of days before we know the future of the Adelaide Lightning basketball club in South Australia. Sir, as you would know, and as many would know, South Australia's iconic women's basketball powerhouse has until Friday to secure the remaining funding that it needs for a licence from Basketball Australia to remain a critical part of women's sport in this state.

The reason that I am speaking about this today is that women's sport in South Australia is very much underrepresented. We commonly see governments of all persuasions backing men's sport in particular. The Adelaide Lightning basketball club is an iconic club and an iconic team that has produced many champions. Currently, it has been put to one side by the current state government; it says that it does not provide funding for elite sports clubs. That is, essentially, unless a knight in shining armour is found in the next two days.

That means the government is prepared to accept the demise of one of South Australia's most successful sporting teams. However, losing Adelaide Lightning would mean more than that. Grassroots basketball for girls and young women across the state will suffer. As I said, women's sport is considerably underrepresented in South Australia. Female athletes aspiring to look at top level sport, particularly basketball in South Australia, are not going to have anything to aim for without an elite competition here.

Many parents of aspiring young basketballers have told me that they are considering moving interstate if there is no national team, no elite team in South Australia. Without Adelaide Lightning what we are looking at is not only an exodus of businesses in South Australia, but now we are also looking at an exodus of sporting families. I think this will be extremely disappointing, given the talent coming up through the junior ranks. There are currently six South Australians in the Australian Opals squad, and there are a number of players in the under 17 and under 19 squads, and I think that speaks volumes about exactly what the potential talent is in South Australia. They will be looking for a destination, potentially at Adelaide Lightning.

For $150,000 the state government could save women's basketball in this state. Mark my words, if we lose the Adelaide Lightning, the flow-on ramifications throughout women's sport will be significant. The talent pool is far and deep. The under 16 South Australian metro girls are the current national champions in the country and our metro girls won silver and bronze in the under 18 national championships in April.

Over the past week, I understand there has been some interest in sponsoring Adelaide Lightning but, as we speak, there are no corporate commitments to date. I have been to speak to a number of corporates around South Australia and they say that far too often elite sporting groups seem to be left to one side.

The minister has said that he does not back funding for elite sport, but I am sure that his memory must be short. We look at football, we look at AFL, we look at cricket, we look at cycling, and we look at motorsport—they are elite sports here in this country, here in this state. They support great events in South Australia, and yet the state government are happy to put their hand into the taxpayers' coffers and pull out money to prop them up, but we do not see them pulling out money for Adelaide Lightning. The former five-time Lightning premiership winner and Olympian Rachel Sporn, one of South Australia's favourite women in sport, has described it as 'catastrophic' if South Australia were to lose the Lightning and the club, which formed in 1993.

The former owner of the club relinquished the licence nine months ago, and yet we are just a couple of days away from the Lightning no longer having funding. I make this plea to this current state government: if there are no people coming forward with significant amounts of money, that it steps in and gives them some support funding so that they can be tied over and compete at a national level. Wouldn't it be wonderful if—

The SPEAKER: The member's time has, alas, long expired. The member for Florey.