Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on Local Sporting Champions. I think it is a great thing that government is doing—

Ms Hall interjecting—

Here we go—there are lots of good things about being the local member, and Local Sporting Champions is one of them. Local Sporting Champions is a grant that we give to individuals to pursue their sporting dreams.

I would like to put the government on notice that I think making if for individuals only and not team based is short-sighted. A couple of months ago we were able to give Arcadian surf lifesaving teams support to go away. Things like rescue and resuscitation are clearly about being a part of the team—and that is what is good about sport. It is very expensive for parents these days to support their children's sport. When I was a kid you did not need boots and you certainly did not need the right shorts or the right uniform—all you had to do was turn up. You did not even need a mouthguard. When you played cricket you did not have pads or gloves and if there was a protector floating around you had to share it with everyone. You certainly did not have a helmet or arm guards or anything like that.

Local sporting grants and Local Sporting Champions help parents out there by recognising the cost of sport. We are looking at the disengagement of people around my city and the disengagement by youth, and a lot of it has to do with the fact that they simply cannot afford to join a local sporting club anymore because of the costs associated with it. Joining a team is something they will miss out on. Insurance is a major issue in this. My good friends now are mates that I played rugby and all sorts of other sports with 20, 30 and 40 years ago.

I would like to thank my committee—Greg Reddington, who is a founding father of Townsville football; Claudia Bressard, an Olympian for Canada and an absolutely legendary basketballer for the Townsville Fire and a fantastic mother; and Pat Ernst, who was a Foley Shield and country Queensland Rugby league representative and a champion bloke. I would like to say to all parents: when you are putting these applications in, please have your child give us their story; please have them say why it is important to them and let them address the issue of their family and what it means to them as a group to be able to participate in this. Local Sporting Champions is a great part of being a member of parliament, and I support the organisation greatly.