Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

For those of us who are old enough, who can forget when Cathy Freeman won gold at the Sydney 2000 Olympics and proudly carried the Australian and Aboriginal flags on her victory lap or the electrifying semifinal between Australia's Matildas and England at the 2023 FIFA world women's cup? Women's sports matter on the world stage and at the local level.

A couple of Sundays ago, in my electorate of Boothby, the Glenelg District Cricket Club women's team took home their first-ever 1st grade women's premiership. History was made and records were broken. Ellie Johnston set a new women's 1st grade fielding record with four outfield catches. Eleanor Larosa and Kate Peterson set a women's 1st grade record with an impressive second-wicket partnership of 125. The team's captain, Kayla McGrath, and Courtney Webb set another record with an unbeaten fourth-wicket partnership of 97 that ultimately won them the game and earned Courtney the Jill Kennare medal for player of the match. I congratulate the women on the hardwon and much-deserved victory, and I congratulate the Glenelg District Cricket Club for cultivating a strong tradition of women's cricket.

This is a moment of celebration. Like Cathy Freeman and the Matildas, these women represent something bigger than themselves; they represent the vibrancy and vitality of women's sport in Australia. Yet women continue to be paid far less than men in professional sports, we are underrepresented in leadership roles, and it is only now, with the Albanese Labor government's Play Our Way program, that we're making significant headway on the longstanding woeful lack of sporting facilities and infrastructure for women. Women's sport in Australia is expected to be worth $49 billion over the next 15 years, yet it receives only 10 to 12 per cent of the total media coverage. The lack of representation and commercial funding does not match the rapidly growing interest in women's sport not only in Australia but around the world, because women's success is Australia's success.

The victory of the Glenelg women's cricket team two weekends ago is crucial in driving and maintaining this national narrative. As Sam Kerr, the captain of the Matildas, reflected:

… that's the legacy we want to leave. We inspire the nation, we move the nation to believe in women's football, believe in the Matildas—

and, I would add, to believe in women's sport. I again wholeheartedly congratulate the women of the Glenelg District Cricket Club, and I very much look forward to celebrating with the team at their senior presentation night coming up.

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