Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

Well, there he was. He was given the ball. He dribbled it forward, changed feet, got it on his left and sliced it past the keeper. Of course, I talk about Mathew Leckie. He became an overnight hero for every kid who's ever dreamt of playing in the World Cup—for every young Socceroo or Matilda who's ever had the aspiration to make the sport's greatest stage.

We're now down to the last 16 with Australia's one-nil win against Denmark. I know the Danes would be commiserating with themselves this morning, but what a fantastic result not just for the Socceroos and not just for the World Cup but, indeed, for Australian sport in general—not just football but sport right across the nation. Our nation prides itself on sport. Of course, at the moment, we've got the men's test cricket going on against the West Indies. I wish the West Indies well. I know they've got a couple of quicks, and cricket's strong when the West Indies are strong. But I digress.

I believe that the key to sporting success is having the right infrastructure and programs in place. I know what we did as a government—we were criticised for it in parts—was having the right programs and funding, particularly in country areas, which seem to produce kids who are of the finest quality because they have to be the best of the best. They almost have to be Bradmans of the bush to ever make the state teams, let alone the national teams. They have to be that much better than their city cousins, because they don't have the facilities or the programs and, when they get to the stage where they can be selected in a state or national team, it's that much harder for them because of the ongoing training and expense. I know that, for Football Wagga Wagga, the new lighting that they received at Rawlings Park was the result of a $450,000 Community Sport Infrastructure Grant Program grant. I know the president at the time, Tony Dobbin, was delighted at securing the grant. It went towards the cost of lighting fields 2, 3 and 4. Football Wagga Wagga has a vision to make Rawlings Park a national facility. They want to be able to train the Socceroos and the Matildas of the future. They want to be able to make sure that football at Wagga Wagga can be right up there, ranking with the other major sports—that is, Australian football, rugby league, cricket, netball, and all sorts of sports.

When I say AFL, I mean AFLW as well. Women's AFL is the fastest growing sport in Wagga Wagga and the Riverina region, which is fantastic. Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong won both the men's and women's competitions this year. It's a long name. It's a celebrated name. Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong's football history goes back to the 1890s, as do many of the Aussie Rules communities in and around our area, even before rugby league broke away from rugby union in the late 1890s in England.

We need better facilities. I know the sports program that Senator McKenzie oversaw had its critics, but it was oversubscribed so much that it made it all but impossible to allocate all of the funding that was well deserved and necessary. I hope the incoming government places an emphasis, too, on sporting grants, particularly for country sporting grants. You can't place a price on what that does for country communities. I mentioned the Mornington Island swimming pool in my previous speech. I will make sure that happens, by hook or by crook. I shouldn't say that now that we've got a NACC in. But I really want that to happen because there's an Aboriginal community that does not have a swimming facility. The next budding Olympic champion could come from that Aboriginal community in the Gulf of Carpentaria. I'll work with the member for Ballarat, the infrastructure minister, to make sure that happens. We'll do it fairly, we'll do it properly, we'll do it according to the books, but we'll do it. Kyle Yanner, the mayor, can rest assured I have his back.

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