Page 4194 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 24 October 2018
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On 9 August I held a women in sport forum as part of the government’s renewed commitment to support female athletes and to promote greater leadership opportunities for women, to address gender inequality in sport in the 2018-19 budget, and forms part of the ACT women’s plan. The women in sport forum focused on bringing the community and sporting institutions together with the ACT government to explore practical ideas to further enhance access to sports on both a professional and a recreational level for women and girls in Canberra.
The ACT government has continued and will continue the goal to build more support and opportunities for women’s and girls’ participation in sport and recreation. We have the chance to lead the nation on further advances for women’s equity, removing cultural and structural barriers to women and girls getting involved in sport, in every sport and at every level: elite athletes, athletes with a disability, administration, juniors, school students, parents and sporting clubs. There are opportunities to support the participation and empowerment of women and girls everywhere.
I have pointed to the fact that the government’s work in the sport portfolio is part of a broader picture. The ACT government continues to lead reforms for gender equity in health, equal rights and domestic and family violence. Every young girl and woman in the ACT should have the chance to get active, to feel welcome and to be safe in sport.
These are a few of the achievements that the government is committed to working towards on building a more inclusive and equitable city than it already is, and I thank Ms Cody for bringing this motion to the Assembly today.
MR PARTON (Brindabella) (4.04): I do not doubt Ms Cody’s passion for women’s sport; you can feel it. But I do question what she is trying to achieve with this motion. I cannot help but think that we are two years in and Ms Cody has run out of things to do. This chamber could have been debating a bill which would have delivered affordable rentals to struggling families, but instead we had to sit here and listen to the most inane, rambling, vacuous speech from Ms Cody about this meaningless, motherhood-statement, waste-of-time motion.
I applaud what Minister Berry has done in this space. She has done an exceptional job and I think that she will continue to do an exceptional job. I do not really believe this motion is going to inspire or spur her on to change her course. Of course the government should be continuing to promote both community and professional women’s sport, and we support that. They are doing a good job and of course we support that. Of course we should be working with the community and professional sporting organisations, and we support that.
Where I have to call out Ms Cody is her ridiculous suggestion that somehow, after Mr Ramsay and others have imposed a further tax on clubs through the additional community contributions levy, these new taxes are going to benefit sport and sporting clubs, whether they be women’s or men’s sporting clubs.
I need to also point out that the vast amounts of time, money and effort that clubs pump into sporting infrastructure—although that money does not count in regards to
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