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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-10-17 Daily Xml
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WOMEN'S SPORT

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:21): Today, I would like to acknowledge some special achievements in sport. Firstly, I would like to quote from the article on page 57 in The Advertiser on 9 October—not a full back-page coverage but, rather, the bottom right-hand corner of page 57, with a photo not much bigger than a postage stamp. The article was headlined, 'Aussies on Top of the World'.

It is an article about the Australian women's cricket team winning the world Twenty20 title for the second time straight, beating England (the old enemy) by four runs in the final. Skipper Jodie Fields was rightly proud of her team, saying, 'England played a really good match but we had the belief in our team.' Jess Cameron top scored and left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen picked up a career-best three for 25. Off-spinner Lisa Sthalekar and seamer Julie Hunter picked up two wickets each.

Our congratulations go to this outstanding team following a great tradition in Australian women's cricket, and it is a shame we do not hear more about them and their endeavours—or even half as much as we hear of men's cricket. Sport has never been an even game, with men's sponsorship, particularly, also being way beyond that of women's sport. That is something I have pondered for many years, as have many others here with me now and before me.

Another truly inspiring team I had the privilege of watching (albeit rather briefly because of dreadful weather setting in) was the initial game of the Indigenous softball program, on behalf of the Premier and in the company of the members for Hindmarsh and Morphett. James Harris and Softball SA are to be commended for their work with the SANFL administration (represented by Tim Stewart and David Hutton on the night) and the APY Lands Council.

They all support the ongoing development of the Far North West Sports League on the APY lands. The league runs an eight-team softball competition, which has been instrumental in building the sustainability of the participating Indigenous communities. The competition has been successful in providing community members, particularly women, with an increased sense of self-worth, leadership opportunities as coaches and team officials, as well as delivering the social, physical and health benefits associated with playing an active team sport.

The coaching, scoring and umpiring training provided by Softball South Australia in 2011 resulted in 17 umpires, eight coaches and three scorers achieving nationally recognised accreditation. The Far North West Sports League is close to achieving self-sufficiency, with most communities now having the capacity and capability of running their own competitions. That is to be absolutely commended.

Indigenous women's sport plays a secondary role to the important participation of Indigenous men in football, often meaning that girls do not have similar opportunities as boys, so it is wonderful to see them participating here in Adelaide against our top teams. Under very difficult circumstances on the night, I witnessed a great hit which resulted in three home runs, the APY team having held Port Adelaide to one home run as the weather closed in.

I commend everybody involved in helping make Indigenous sport continue to thrive, providing a way for better outcomes in communities where it is fostered. We all know how important good role models are in reducing problem behaviour at a time when we as a community are concerned by alcohol-fuelled violence.

Today's activities on the steps of Parliament House remind us of another problem experienced by all too many—domestic violence. Another South Australian woman died recently as the result of domestic violence. These deaths are both unacceptable and preventable and must not be written off as just 'domestic disturbances'. The state government has worked on a Right to Safety strategy, and it is up to each and every one of us to remind all in our circle of influence that no level of violence is acceptable. We must spread the word, 'Not one more,' and do all we can to change community attitudes to violence of any kind and the ultimate violent act—that is, one that causes death.

This change of attitude can be influenced by actions and language, for words are a really powerful tool in changing behaviour for the better. Highlighting bad language plays a leading role in promoting debate, and the recent 2012 Ernie Awards for sexist behaviour highlighted some examples. The Silver Ernie went to Basketball Australia for flying the women's Olympic basketball team to London economy class while the male team flew business class. Their excuse was that women chose to spend the money that way, when in actual fact I think a close examination would find they had less money to spend in any case.

I would like to highlight the Good Ernie for good men's behaviour, which went to Stephen Smith, one of our federal ministers, who said in reference to ongoing issues in the Defence Force that inappropriate conduct will not be tolerated. We all know the difficulties he has faced in trying to change that behaviour.

The overall Gold Ernie and Silver Media Ernie went to broadcaster Alan Jones for his comments that 'women are destroying the joint, Christine Nixon in Melbourne, Clover Moore in Sydney. Honestly, there is no chaff bag big enough for these people'. Of course, we know Alan's efforts this year deserve more than their own full five minutes in this place. Unfortunately, I have run out of time, so that will be something for another day.

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