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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-10-24 Daily Xml
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Gender Equality

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (14:50): Thank you, Mr Speaker. My question is to the Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing. How does the minister define 'gender equality'?

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (14:50): I thank the member for the question. She asked me a similar question in estimates. What we want to look at here is what we are looking to do for the people of South Australia. To the question that I think was ruled out of order, I want to explain to the house that because we have taken the word 'female' out of the name of our funding by no means does it mean that we are not focused on females in sport. In fact, it is quite the opposite. You don't need to have the name in your funding to be focused on women.

As a father of two girls who play sport, and having coached a lot of girls in sport, too, I have a great, great passion for sport across the board. In fact, I have spent the majority of my life heavily involved in the sporting industry and know the value of sport for all South Australians. When it comes to equality, on this side of the house we want to make sure that we deliver programs for all South Australians equally, no matter what sex, race, religion, colour, creed or whatever it might be. Equality is about delivering services for everyone. Very proudly, that is a focus of our government. To the member's point, I did a survey and I mentioned this in my ministerial statement.

Ms HILDYARD: Point of order: my question was, 'Can the minister define 'gender equality?' We are moving away from the substance of the question.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: What was the point of order?

Ms HILDYARD: Debate.

The SPEAKER: Okay. That is a very wide-scoping question. I would expect a wide-scoping answer. I remind several members that they are on two warnings: members for Light, Reynell, Badcoe, Mawson and West Torrens. The member for Hammond is close to the edge as well.

An honourable member: Chuck him out.

The SPEAKER: I might do that. I am listening to the minister's answer. Thank you, minister.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I thank the member again for her question and the point about gender equality, which I did explain, and having equal aspects in sport for men and women. To take it further, we can take the gender out of it and we can just look at equality. As I have stressed, the point is that on this side of the house we look forward to providing opportunities for all South Australians. It is a real key focus that we are here to deliver on.

I mentioned in my ministerial statement the survey that I took. I wrote to the Women in Sport Taskforce—a task force that was around for three years. I did some research into that and found it was very ad hoc. They struggled to get a quorum together. I thought, 'It's not working. Let's get some input from them and other state sporting organisations,' and also—

Ms Hildyard interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Reynell can leave for half an hour, please, under 137A.

The honourable member for Reynell having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: I wrote to them all, and before the member for Reynell does depart, she actually didn't even partake in the survey. She actually didn't even have an input into what she thought about women in sport. We were trying to do this on a bipartisan arrangement.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: Exactly she did. So when I wrote her and asked her to take part in the survey—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Reynell will leave the chamber.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —as the former chair, you would think she would have contributed to the survey and had her say on what she thought about women in sport. Thankfully, hundreds of other people did have their say and I appreciated them for that. We took on board what they had to say. The thing they talked about in the survey, which was notable—facilities were mentioned, but they weren't the number one thing—was a big push for women wanting a change in culture in sporting clubs.

They want to see a club that is inclusive—inclusive of everyone—and a club that has safe facilities, a club that gives them the facility to be able to play on a field and have lights to be able to train at night. They want to make sure that they have the facilities so that they can do what they do best. That's why we set up our program. It's one that generates opportunities for all South Australians, most specifically focused on women, girls and families.

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell: No, it's not.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: The member for Mawson yells out that it's not—

The SPEAKER: The member for Mawson is on two warnings.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —but the member for Mawson hasn't even seen the program, so he wouldn't know. It very much is, Mr Speaker. It's focused very heavily on families and women and all South Australians, giving them the facilities that they need. We took advice from the survey. We listened to what people had to say even though the member for Reynell did not contribute, which was quite disappointing, and we took it on board—

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Mawson will not refer to members as losers, and he can—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Sorry, snoozers not losers—snoozers or losers.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: Before my time runs out, Mr Speaker—

The SPEAKER: Not that he said losers. He can leave for 20 minutes, please.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —I will say to the member for Mawson that she was the chair and she didn't respond to the survey, which is absolutely appalling.

The honourable member for Mawson having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: She was chair and she didn't respond to the survey. It was disappointing.

The SPEAKER: The minister's time has expired. The Acting Leader of the Opposition has the call, and she will be heard in silence, please.

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