Page 1129 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 16 March 2005
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• Felicity McShane, 20, from Hawker; and
• Candice Lowe, 21.
Candice is actually from Crows Nest, but we like to claim her as one of our own because she plays with the Canberra Ice Caps in the state league.
During the championship an ACT player also picked up a best player award. Rylie Padjen was named the best player for Australia in the game against Belgium. In the world championship the Australian team suited up against host country South Africa, as well as Belgium, Great Britain, Slovenia and Hungary. The team performed well in these championships, winning two out of the five games they played. They beat South Africa 11-1 and had a one-all draw with Belgium. They finished fifth overall in their division.
Our local players also represented the ACT in both the national championships and the New South Wales travel league in 2004, both of which the team won. So well done to the local teams! Several of these players specifically moved to Canberra to join what is emerging as one of the nation’s strongest women’s ice hockey programs. This is something that Ice Hockey ACT should be very proud of. I would like to congratulate Kirstin, Peta, Mindy, Rylie, Felicity and Candice on their performance at the world championship and their outstanding representation of the ACT. I wish the girls well in their future ice hockey careers.
As a side note, a number of these girls had to find funds to make the trip to South Africa. Ice hockey, while enjoyed by many in the ACT, is not a well-funded sport compared with other sports, and I guess women’s ice hockey is even less well funded, even for national teams that travel interstate and overseas. I encourage the government to see what it can do to financially assist ACT players who are competing at such a high level in their sport at events of this calibre.
If members will indulge me a little, for the sake of equality, I would also like to congratulate one of our young male players, who is set to return from Bulgaria today. ACT Ice Hockey is very proud of him, and we as a community should be equally proud. Tim Cox from Gordon was a member of the national youth team, the under-18 team that won the gold medal in their class at the world championship. Australia has been promoted to division 2 as a result of that win. I congratulate Tim on the part he played in not only the win, but also the elevation of the youth team in the divisional grouping.
It is clear that there is a wealth of talent in the territory when it comes to ice hockey. I urge the minister for sport to ensure that this sport and its players are funded appropriately so that they can continue to excel at the state, national, and international levels. For those members who did not know, the ice hockey season is just about to start again. You can duck down to Phillip and see the Knights most weekends between now and October.
Emergency services
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (6.28): I will pick up where I left off after question time today, highlighting the complete lack of knowledge that Mr Hargreaves has about his emergency services portfolio. In question time today Mr Hargreaves said, “Look, once Comcen says that you can respond, it’s okay for you to respond.” This is contracted by
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