Sports Vouchers

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (14:57): Thank you, Mr Speaker. My question is to the Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing. Can the minister update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is lowering costs for households and SA families through the Sports Vouchers program?

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (14:57): I thank the member for—

The SPEAKER: One moment, minister. I think the member for Playford is supposed to be out for another six minutes.

Mr Brown: I apologise, Mr Speaker.

The SPEAKER: As I try to be a fair Speaker, I will pretend that the member for Playford—

Mr Brown: You nodded at me as I walked in.

The SPEAKER: Yes. Thank you, member for Playford, if you could take care of that. Can we have the question again and the answer.

Mr TEAGUE: My question is to the Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing. Can the minister update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is lowering costs for households and SA families through the Sports Vouchers program?

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: I thank the member for Heysen for his question—and, can I say, he is the king of the Hills. I was up with him just last weekend, travelling around the beautiful countryside in the Adelaide Hills visiting a number of sporting clubs up there. I tell you what, they think this bloke is doing an outstanding job, and they are 100 per cent right. They know how important it is that we are lowering costs for families. We went around to the different sporting clubs, we spoke to the community, and that was exactly what they spoke about—the great job the member for Heysen is doing.

We went to the Strathalbyn Cricket Club, the football club and the softball club as well as the tennis club, and they were all just singing his praises. It really put me back in my box, I must say. The way that they were talking about the great job this man is doing was awe-inspiring. They were talking about what this government is delivering and what the local members are delivering. One of the great policies we have is our Sports Vouchers program, which is lowering costs for families. That's what families want to see and that's what we are delivering.

Being able to put $100 back in the pockets of families when they have a junior primary school-age child playing local sport is absolutely well received. It means they have a bit of extra money in their pocket to help pay the fees, to help buy the uniforms, to help buy the boots or socks or shoes, or whatever it is they may need. Families appreciate that because it means that when they are looking at their budget and they have a bit of a tough decision to make, sport is not being ruled out. We are keeping young kids active and we are keeping them playing sports in our local community.

As you know, Mr Speaker, we have increased the Sports Vouchers program to $100. Under the previous government, it was $50. What isn't talked about too much is they actually had no money in the forward estimates for that, so there was no money in the forward estimates going forward when they ended their term of government. We put up the $100. We put the money up-front because we know how important it is to make sure that families are being helped out.

Going through the Hills, we know that run-of-the-mill sports—tennis, lacrosse, hockey, football and cricket—appreciate the $100, but now we have added dance and swimming lessons to the Sports Vouchers program and it has been so well received it is not funny. It is getting more kids active and giving more kids an opportunity to get out there and play sport.

By adding swimming lessons to this program, at the Unley Swimming Centre we have had 221 vouchers claimed; at the SA Aquatic and Leisure Centre, 350 vouchers were claimed; at the YMCA SA, 628 vouchers claimed from across the state; at the Town of Gawler, 141 vouchers claimed; at BlueFit Aquadome, 560 vouchers have been claimed; and at the ARC at Campbelltown 177 vouchers were claimed through swimming.

In total, 2,077 vouchers have been claimed by South Australian families wanting to get their kids into swimming. That's $207,000 back in the pockets of South Australians. More importantly, though, it is 2,077 young people learning how to swim. We hope some of them might go on to become Olympic athletes and swimming superstars, but more importantly we hope they keep swimming long into their future lives and make sure they stay fit, healthy and active in our community because we know that also brings down the cost of our health budget.

As we look across the board, from January 2019 to January 2020, 74,443 vouchers were redeemed with over $7 million back in the pockets of South Australians. This is a great program, making sure that we are delivering on the cost of living. Bringing that down is what people want to see. The increase between 2018 and 2019 was 27.6 per cent, a 27.6 per cent increase in the usage of these vouchers.

In the member for Heysen's electorate, 3,397 vouchers claimed; in the member for Flinders' electorate, 2,102 vouchers claimed; the member for Black, 2,060; the member for Elder, 1,925; the member for Florey, 2,245; and the member for Frome, 1,848 vouchers claimed.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: I can go on, Mr Speaker, but they don't want to hear the good news. We are delivering.