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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-06-23 Daily Xml
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Sports Vouchers

Mr DULUK (Waite) (14:43): A supplementary to the minister in regard to sports vouchers: with the extension of this Sports Vouchers scheme to year 8 and 9 students, did the minister contemplate extending that to Scouts and Girl Guides participants? If not, why not?

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (14:43): I thank the member for his question and stress the point about how excited we are that we have extended this program. I do go back to the point that under the previous government it was only a $50 voucher and, in fact, they didn't have it budgeted going forward at the last election. So we put the $100 in and now we have expanded it. We have expanded it to swimming and we have expanded it to dance. We think that was really important too.

What we are focused on here is that—and, as Minister for Sport, I make no apologies—we are really keen to get more people more active. We know if we can get people doing 150 minutes of exercise per week, if we could get every South Australian doing that and we could save the health budget over $800 million a year. So this is a really important piece. We want to make sure we get people active. We understand that Scouts do an outstanding job. Part of the prerequisite for this program is to have a 10-week physical activity program, and that's where the focus is and that's where we have kept it.

We do appreciate it and we will continue to look. We have shown a propensity to expand this program when and where it's possible. Like I said, dance and swimming were added, and that was really appreciated by families. That of course had a growth in the money again that went back into the pockets of South Australian families. This really helps with the cost of living.

And now we are going out to year 9 students as well. We are really proud of that. We think that's great. We will continue to look to expand it every term. I thank the Treasurer for his support with this because this is a great cost-of-living initiative and we know that it really does help. Again, it drives our goal to get people more active, to get them doing more physical activity, because we know the health benefits that come with that.

Whilst we are talking about health benefits, we know and we saw again yesterday the great amount of money that the Treasurer and the health minister got towards mental health. This is actually at the start of the journey, if you like. We know getting people involved in sporting clubs, getting them physically active, has a big benefit towards their mental health as well, so we will keep delivering on that. We are really proud of the initiatives we have. Of course, we have put nearly $400 million into sports since coming into government, grassroots sports right the way through to elite, as I have been pointing out, and some of the community facilities that we have been doing right across South Australia.

I have great pleasure in going to the regions and talking to many of the local members out there and also the local sporting community about how important it is that we put money back into sporting facilities because what it does is it creates a hub where people can come. Of course, we saw through COVID in particular how important these sporting facilities were as community facilities as well. Yes, we know that getting people physically active and playing sport is vitally important because it's good for their health and wellbeing, but it was the actual social congregation at these sporting clubs as well that proved to be really, really important.

When we did have lockdowns for a little while and we couldn't have sport—and thankfully here in South Australia that was only a very short, brief period of time—we did note that the social impact was quite large. Our investment is really important. It's really important for sports, to keep sports progressing and making sure they've got those facilities so that we can keep the growth of women's sport, of course. We are very keen on that, and those family-friendly facilities—again, money that the opposition never even dreamt of putting into sport: some $400 million into these facilities is sensational, and the people really appreciate it.

Ms BEDFORD: Point of order, Mr Speaker.

The SPEAKER: The minister will resume his seat for a moment. The member for Florey rises on a point of order.

Ms BEDFORD: No. 98, which has become our favourite, sir: relevance—there is none to Scouts and Girl Guides.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Minister for Education on the point of order.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: The question involved the words 'why not' and asked what considerations had been given. That's an incredibly broad scope in any question and it means that the minister is at liberty to provide information about all of the things that were relevant in considerations.

The SPEAKER: The question, which I listened to very carefully as well, indeed invited a response in relation, first, to whether subject matter had been included and the range of considerations, indeed the expression 'if not, why not'. The minister is responding to the question. The minister has the call.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: Thank you, sir, and I was outlining some of the projects. I just remembered again the other day, when I was down at the Modbury Soccer Club with the member for Newland, how appreciative they were of our investment in their club, and the smiles that we put on faces when we put those change rooms in there that will benefit their club, benefit the growth of women's sport as well, but benefit the whole club. Again, I stress the point that I was making before I was interrupted, and that is that the social fabric of a club is as important as the sporting element. I am delighted with—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —what has been delivered by our near $400 million—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on left!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: And those opposite may not like sport, and that's fine. They can heckle all they like. I know the member for Hurtle Vale doesn't like the money that we are putting into sport.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: She doesn't like it. The member for Reynell, I should say, doesn't like the money we are putting into sport, but we are proud of it. We are proud of what it's delivering from the grassroots right through to the elite. We think it is sensational.

Ms Hildyard interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Reynell is called to order. I remind members that interjection in the course of the minister's answer is disorderly and will cease.

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