Wednesday, 31 July 2024

Ministers statements: women’s community sport

Ros SPENCE (Kalkallo – Minister for Agriculture, Minister for Community Sport, Minister for Carers and Volunteers) (14:27): I rise to update the house on the Allan Labor government’s commitment to supporting women’s health through our record-breaking investments in community sport. We know that historically women have not had the same opportunities as men when it comes to engaging in sport and physical activity. This is unfair, and it is detrimental to women’s physical and mental health and wellbeing. Right across Victoria this government is investing in community sports infrastructure to deliver new and upgraded facilities that apply mandatory universal design principles, ensuring that women’s change rooms and amenities are just as good as the men’s and not an afterthought.

There are plenty of great examples right across the state. We have invested more than $13 million in Mildura towards its brand new regional sporting precinct, which I was pleased to visit; $3 million in upgrades at Mackie Road Reserve, which I visited recently with the member for Bentleigh, which is delivering a new pavilion with change rooms for women and girls; $1 million to upgrade Deledio reserve pavilion, delivering a new female-friendly sports pavilion which the member for Ripon has been a terrific advocate of; and $1.25 million to the Portland gymnastics facility upgrade, which, as the member for South-West Coast knows, will redevelop the current facilities into a high-performance gymnasium.

This government has invested more than $1.9 billion in community sport and active recreation infrastructure since 2014, and almost half of this investment has gone to around 1500 infrastructure projects that directly support the participation of women and girls. That is a record that I am proud of, it is a record that this government is proud of and it is a record that all women and girls in Victoria will benefit from for many years to come.