Thursday, 30 November 2023

McKinnon Volley

Nick STAIKOS (Bentleigh) (18:16): (484) My adjournment matter tonight is for the attention of the Minister for Women and concerns changes to Volleyball Victoria’s by-laws, which have had a detrimental impact on McKinnon volleyball’s female players. The action I seek from the minister is that she makes representations to Volleyball Victoria about this matter. McKinnon volleyball club have seven women players who represented Victoria last season in the premier division. As the result of a change this year to Volleyball Victoria’s state league by-laws, McKinnon volleyball has been relegated due to not having a male team in the premier division. For example, the by-laws in 2021 stated:

In addition to the entry requirements contained in By-Law 5.2, entry into the Premier divisions is expressly subject to each Metropolitan Melbourne based Club:

entering exactly one (1) team in each Premier division …

In 2023 it was changed to the following:

entering exactly one (1) team per gender in each Premier division …

While I do not want to tell anyone how to run their league, it does strike me as unfair that a group of women are unable to compete at the level which they have achieved due to the absence of a men’s team. It also strikes me as a retrograde step given the great strides forward in women’s sport in recent years, which I know Victoria’s gender equality strategy has been part of. I therefore ask that the Minister for Women make representations to Volleyball Victoria on this matter.