Nova Peris (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise in relation to answers provided in question time today about the cuts that the Abbott government are making to the ABC. The answers provided today simply state that this government do not care about the impact of the cuts that they are making to the ABC. Senator Nash, the Deputy Leader of the Nationals in the Senate, said today that they take no responsibility for the ABC and that it should be the responsibility of the ABC, not this government. This is a complete cop-out. It is like a government cutting funding to a school and then directing all the complaints to the principal. It is like a government cutting funding to a hospital and then blaming doctors when the cuts take effect and beds are closed. But that is the nature of this government. They do not care; they do not take responsibility for their broken promises and their funding cuts. This is a government that promised no cuts to the ABC. Their denials are ridiculous and everybody knows it.

As my colleague Senator Kate Lundy said today, we are concerned gravely about the coverage of women's sports. It would be fair to say that when the Abbott government cabinet sat down they did not realise the impact that they would have on female sport. Perhaps Minister Julie Bishop was away that day or she simply did not care. It is clear that the Prime Minister, who is the Minister for Women, did not care. Outside of the ABC and SBS, there is very little televised free-to-air coverage of women's sport in this country. This year the ABC televised the Basketball World Championships for the first time on free-to-air television. They also televised the Women's National Basketball League and the women's soccer league. Both of these have been cut as a result of this broken promise. I have been told that the women's basketball league has been covered for of 34 years—but not anymore. The Australian Opals star, Lauren Jackson, as I mentioned today in question time, said that women's sport is the 'sacrificial lamb' of the government's cuts. She described the Abbott government's cuts to women's basketball as 'a very dark day for women's sport'—and it is; she is 100 per cent correct. She also said:

The Liberal government doesn't really put sport ahead of anything else, especially women's sport, and that's why I thought it would be one of the things to go.

She is one of the greatest sporting stars in Australian history, and this is what she thinks of the Abbott government.

I know that the ABC has been a strong supporter of both men's hockey and women's hockey over the decades. In fact, the ABC is televising the Champions Trophy later this month and in early December. Perhaps this will be the last time that we have coverage of world-class hockey in this country. Maybe we will be left to watch hockey once every four years during the Olympic Games. When we look at sport in this country, we all know that there is so much coverage and saturation on television of football and cricket for young men. That is enough incentive for young boys to get out of bed every day, dare to dream and have aspirations of becoming a champion. It lets them look at role models who go out there and provide a positive influence on the youth of today. What will there be for women? What will there be for the young girls of this country who will wake up every day and not see any more women playing basketball and women playing soccer? These are world champions. Clearly some of the greatest young women who have dared to dream in this country will have their dreams now broken because of the cuts. There will be a lack of positive role models for the generation of young girls in this country.

What we are making is a clear statement that it is good enough to have men's basketball and men's soccer televised, but women's basketball and women's soccer is no longer going to be televised in this country. We cannot put it on the ABC and make them call the shots as to what we should be shown in this country. The cuts will have a profound effect on the future sporting success of this country, particularly young women.

Question agreed to.