Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise this evening to proudly support the motion brought forward by the member for Lalor, and I welcome the contributions to the debate so far from members from both sides of the House and the crossbenches.

It is important that we do take time to recognise and congratulate the important role that netball plays in our national status and psyche. Water-cooler discussion often lends itself to what is happening in the world of sport, and, almost exclusively, it ends up focusing on what is happening in men's sport. Because of blanket media coverage, we all know that the Australian men's cricket team just lost the Ashes to England, but few would know that the women's team is currently leading England 4-2 in their respective series. We also know that Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke will retire from international cricket at the end of the Ashes series. But, again, few would know his female compatriot's name let alone her status as Wisden's inaugural Leading Woman Cricketer in the World. For the record, our current women's captain and best player in the world is 23 year old Meg Lanning.

So I am most definitely pleased that we have a woman's sport, team and league that is getting much-deserved recognition and attention—on television, in the papers, at water coolers, in this parliament and everywhere. I am pleased to note that in recent days even the Prime Minister has been tweeting about the Aussie Diamonds and the World Cup. While I welcome the Prime Minister's support for the Diamonds on social media, I remind government members opposite that media coverage of women's sport in Australia has suffered greatly as a result of the $250 million in cuts to the ABC, forcing the national broadcaster to abandon their coverage of women's soccer, basketball and other sports. At a time when just 8.7 per cent of TV sports news coverage is devoted to women's sport, this cut was particularly telling. Elite women athletes provide strong role models for women of all ages and from all walks of life. A reduction in media coverage, which is already grossly unequal to the coverage of men's sport in Australia, has further removed such positive role models from the public eye. The television broadcasting of women's sport is an integral part of the ongoing development of women's sport in Australia. While I am not suggesting that maintaining or improving media coverage of women's sports will be a panacea for all inequalities that exist, reducing it is certainly not the answer. On this point, I acknowledge both Network Ten and Fox Sports for their coverage and support of the women's Netball World Cup and also their support of a number of other women's sports.

Netball is the nation's leading participation sport for women in Australia and has over 1.2 million participants nation-wide. The local competition in my electorate of Newcastle, which I have had the honour of opening on a number of occasions, has more than 4,000 players, with hundreds more supporters, family members and volunteers joining players at the courts every weekend during the netball season. It is women like Dell Saunders, who has given more than 60 years of service to the Newcastle Netball Association, who keep these local competitions thriving in our communities across generations. Newcastle is home to a strong and active netball community, and the Newcastle netball community was particularly chuffed this week when our city had the honour of hosting Australia's netball team, the Diamonds, for their final pre-tournament preparations. They spent four days finetuning tactics and teamwork in our city before heading to Sydney for the world cup, which commenced over the weekend. Vice-captain of the team Kimberlee Green told the local press that four days in Newcastle had been the ideal preparation for the 'rigours of the world cup'.

This Friday I will join the member for Lalor, along with some of our other parliamentary colleagues, in Sydney to play in the parliamentary netball world cup, so I am hoping that a little of my hometown spirit rubs off, ensuring that we are all indeed prepared for the rigours of the parliamentary world cup. I look forward to joining my colleagues from the Australian, New South Wales and New Zealand parliaments to promote and encourage participation in sport for people of all abilities with a view to improving fitness, health and enjoyment. I wish Australia and the teams taking part in the women's Netball World Cup all the best for the remainder of the tournament, and hope that everyone in this place wishes my teammates and me the best of luck for our matches on Friday. I thank the member for Lalor, who is such a strong advocate for netball, for moving this motion in the parliament today, and pass on my congratulations to all parties involved in the sport of netball in Australia. Go the Diamonds!

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