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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-09-18 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

Badcoe Electorate

Ms STINSON (Badcoe) (15:19): For the last three weekends, I have had the great joy of attending the Edwardstown Football Club's junior presentations.

Ms Cook interjecting:

Ms STINSON: Thank you very much, member for Hurtle Vale. You will be delighted to know that there are two more to go—so come along; it is great fun. They make a mean schnitty down there as well.

The 1960s clubrooms, which are soon to be replaced, have been heaving with proud parents watching their under-6s gleefully accept their medals. The committed coaches talk about each boy and girl, reflecting on their year on the field and off it, encouraging them not only on the development of their sporting skills but on their leadership, teamwork and team spirit. I would like to acknowledge the member for Reynell, who I know is a big supporter of the Edwardstown Football Club and who has been down there a few times as well.

Ms Hildyard: That's lovely. I used to play for them.

Ms STINSON: There you go! It has been lovely to shake every little hand and applaud the efforts of parents who volunteer as first aid officers and team managers or who referee the rules on the field. It is great to chat with families and to learn of the great pride they have in their own club and how they feel like they are part of something bigger, part of our community and part of bringing up great kids.

It was not too long ago that the club was struggling for numbers, but to see it now you would never guess. Now the club's members hail from more than 50 schools. Looking around, there is a cultural diversity that was not a feature a decade ago. Probably the best thing has been seeing the junior girls' teams grow. As each girl shook hands and got her trophy, the coaches reflected on the girls' toughness, their determination, their leadership, their care for each other and their skills with the ball. This year, there are three girls' teams, and three more will join next season; that is a doubling. There are also girls playing with boys in the younger leagues.

These girls are getting a chance that many before them did not. Although we were very sporty, my sisters and I were never encouraged to play footy, cricket or baseball, which is kind of funny because dad coached boys' sports teams, including baseball. We played netball and volleyball, did swimming and athletics and were in the girls' touch football team, but it just was not the done thing for girls to play so-called rough boys' sports. But these girls are going to be able to enjoy female change rooms in their new clubrooms, and they will not feel like they are shoving the blokes out when it is their time to play. They will know that they are entitled to be there, just like the boys. In fact, they probably will not even question it, which is great.

The Edwardstown Football Club is pretty lucky. It can expect its ranks, especially among girls, to grow when it gets its new multimillion-dollar sports club, along with other sports like bowls and cycling, which are also based at the Edwardstown Memorial Oval. It will be a great new facility. Today's juniors will provide the talent needed in future for the club's senior playing ranks as well as the volunteer workforce to drive the club forward.

But what is really sad is that not all clubs in my area will be as lucky. The women at the highly successful Southern Suburbs Rugby Union Club were hoping for upgraded women's change rooms, but thanks to the axing of the Female Facilities Fund—

An honourable member: Shame!

Ms STINSON: —shame!—that is now unlikely. And because they are not netball, cricket or footy, they will not even be able to access the Liberals' sporting infrastructure fund either, which replaces a more generous scheme that Labor had established.

Women and girls are now playing team sports in greater numbers thanks to the investment and effort put into growing female participation, especially by the previous Labor government but also across the sporting sector. It is one of the best things we can do for our health system: develop healthy, active habits early in life and continue them throughout life. This is the best preventative measure we have in terms of relieving pressure on our health system.

In terms of encouraging equality and cohesion in our society, sport is a great vessel for educating our community that women are equal with men and should be treated as such. It is short-sighted to limit sports funding to just a few popular codes and of course to axe the Female Facilities Fund. We will be paying for it in the years to come in terms of the continued growth of local sporting clubs, the participation and equality of women and in poorer health outcomes.

On behalf of my community of Badcoe, I urge the new Liberal government to get serious about grassroots sport—all grassroots sport—and have a long, hard think about the funding decisions they are making and how they impact communities like mine.

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