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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-06-03 Daily Xml
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MESSENGER PRESS

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (15:44): I rise today to congratulate the Messenger Press for some outstanding stories today in several editions. I will touch on a few briefly and one in more detail. I was very pleased to see the Southern Times Messenger (my own Fleurieu and McLaren Vale region Messenger) promoting Family First's move to petition the government to stop the shop fronting of the McLaren Vale police station, a move which will see the local officer relocated to Aldinga and a move which the present government would have condemned and fought me on when I was in government. It is a move that is bad for the people of the McLaren Vale and surrounding areas, no matter what spin is put on it and saying that they will get plenty of police cars patrolling.

In the same paper today the Messenger raises concerns about heritage issues and a district settler (John Reynell) as Pioneer Homes moves in to develop an historic parcel of land. My colleague (the Hon. David Winderlich) asked a question about that yesterday. I know that area; it was part of my electorate when I was in the House of Assembly for some years. Old Reynella is an incredibly historical part of the success of that wine region, as are Hardys and John Reynell. It is very unfortunate that these areas are being turned into intensive housing developments.

I also note the front page story in the Standard Messenger which has a headline that Family First likes to see. It states:

Family friendly: local footy clubs are turning their backs on male dominated culture to embrace families.

This is a good and positive move. Any Saturday nights when I am not doing political work attending meetings and functions, etc., I go to the Mount Compass footy and netball club, and so do most of the families in the town. There are many young people there and it is vibrant and a lot of fun. It is family orientated, which is what we need to do with our sporting codes—make them family orientated.

The Standard Messenger article explains how Walkerville and other inner northern suburbs clubs are moving to a family-inclusive culture that shows more respect for women. The head trainer, Tammy Mason, explains:

It was a lot more of a drinking culture when I first started. It probably stopped the girls coming down and you wouldn't bring your kids.

As a white ribbon ambassador taking a stand (with other colleagues and many other people) against violence towards women, I think embracing families is a positive step for families and encouraging for women. We have to be careful to work cooperatively with sporting clubs rather than isolating and persecuting them by lumping them all in the group sex scandal basket. As we see in this article, clubs like Walkerville are showing increasing respect for women and families, and this move is very reassuring for Family First because that is a big part of why our party is in politics. Government and the community need to put the focus on families first.

Football clubs have huge potential, as do netball, cricket, tennis and other sporting codes, not only for community cohesion and leadership but as mentoring grounds for young men. They can, in some cases, have a negative impact if there is poor leadership and negative role modelling for young men. I am concerned about the current scandals surrounding elite footballers (rugby included, of course) in that we risk ostracising these clubs and young men unless we talk up the positive efforts that football, netball and other sporting clubs are making. They are fundamental to the strength and fabric of communities in every respect around the metropolitan area and, indeed, in our rural areas.

I believe this parliament and the government can be a positive influence by talking up (as the Standard Messenger has done today) clubs like Walkerville that are being positive and family friendly. It will surely mean more families attending and more growth for those clubs and, surely, that will translate to on-field success which will start to make clubs realise that the way to viability, sustainability, premierships and a positive future is to clearly put families first.

I congratulate the local clubs for this and I say to the major codes, where all the big money is: if you are on hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and you are gifted with an incredibly elite talent in sport, you need to set an example. Young people 'suck it and see' and follow a mentor for these examples and, from a great height, the executives of the AFL, the SANFL, the rugby league codes, etc. need to ensure that the example is set right. That example should be coming from the top and not just from the grassroots clubs in our state.

Time expired.

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