Females in Sport

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (15:54): All girls and women should be able to equally and actively participate in their chosen sport, with access to the appropriate facilities. Participation in local sport in South Australia is booming, especially women's sport. The AFLW is a prominent example, with the Crows being the premiers of 2017 and 2019. It showcases the extraordinary talents of players, such as Ebony Marinoff, Chelsea Randall and Erin Phillips, who is already a legend of the game. When you consider that 53,000 fans flocked to Adelaide Oval to see the Crows win their second flag in convincing fashion, it is a timely reminder that the government should be acting to ensure that women can equally participate in their chosen sport at a local level.

Today, young women and girls watching footy can finally imagine themselves playing elite-level football and finally have their very own role models to look up to and learn from. The success of the AFLW and other such elite-level competitions gives hope to a new generation of women that they are welcome to equally and actively participate in every aspect of their chosen sport.

The future is bright at the elite level, but many of our local grassroots clubs across South Australia do not have change room facilities available for women. Indeed, there are many clubs where men and women need to take turns in using the change room facilities. Unfortunately, this does not always work. I have heard stories of men accidently entering the change rooms, unaware that they had been designated for the use of the female side at the time.

Sadly, I have also heard stories of men entering change rooms and harassing female athletes for using 'their' so-called change rooms. This leaves women and young girls in a position where, out of necessity, they change before a game either in their car or in a car park. It is simply unfair that women and girl athletes should have to get changed in such a way; it is a barrier to participating in sport and it must cease.

The previous Labor government created and funded a $24 million female facilities program to help clubs modify or build female-friendly change rooms to support female athletes. This grant program did not require co-contribution by clubs or councils, and was open to every sporting code. In keeping with their theme of cuts, closures and privatisations, the state Liberal government has cruelly cut this program altogether, abandoning the last $10 million round of this program. Instead, they have started a program worth only $10 million that requires clubs and councils to contribute funding and they have closed the funding to all but three codes.

I am told that many of these local clubs simply cannot afford to match the funding and are therefore locked out of the system. That the Liberal state government's funds should be restricted to three sporting codes is a disgrace. Women play far more than just three sports in South Australia. This is absolutely shameful and a shameful Liberal policy. The state Liberal government should be supporting women across all sporting disciplines. The state Liberal government should also be empowering clubs to fully participate in the grant process.

The Labor opposition will continue to campaign loudly on this issue, and we have a proud history of supporting girls and women at all levels of sport, from grassroots through to elite level. I have participated in quite a number of rallies around significant sporting events, and we have received significant support from the general public and the sporting public, who believe as we do that women have the right to have the appropriate facilities to help develop them as sportspeople. So I call upon the Liberal government to show their support and reinstate proper funding so that all female athletes across the state can fully participate in their chosen sport.