Kim O’KEEFFE (Shepparton) (18:41): Today I rise and stand to make a contribution on the State Sporting Legislation Amendment Bill 2024. The bill is, in all practical aspects, a spring-cleaning bill; however, there are one or two noteworthy clauses that appear to go somewhat beyond legislative spring-cleaning – namely, the abolishment of two advisory committees in the legislation and some changes to the delegation of lease management. The State Sporting Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 amends the ANZAC Day Act 1958 to change the description of an area in which sports are held on Anzac Day and makes a range of amendments to the Kardinia Park Stadium Act 2016, the Melbourne and Olympic Parks Act 1985, the Melbourne Cricket Ground Act 2009 and the State Sport Centres Act 1994 in relation to trust membership, leasing powers and other miscellaneous amendments; and amends the Professional Boxing and Combat Sports Act 1985 in relation to acting appointments and for other purposes. Clause 3 of the bill amends section 4 of the ANZAC Day Act 1958 to modernise the description of an area in which sports are held on Anzac Day by substituting a reference to distance in miles with a reference to distance in kilometres.
My office actually was contacted by a president of one of the many sporting clubs across my electorate inquiring about the possibility of playing their respective home games – football and netball sides – on Anzac Day this year, instead of the Saturday on which the match was originally scheduled to be played. They worked very closely with the RSL club and the guidelines. However, the sporting and major events requirements for playing sports on Anzac Day need the written approval of the minister, which needs to be submitted by 24 February, a timeline that they did miss this year. However, hopefully they will have that arranged for next year. With the popular and well-attended Anzac Day AFL match, a wonderful acknowledgement of those who have served our country, these requests may continue to grow.
Another major provision in the bill is amendments to the Kardinia Park Stadium Act 2016. As such the State Sporting Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 permits the minister to make event management declarations, abolishes the Kardinia Park Advisory Committee, changes the membership and procedures of the trust and permits the minister to delegate approval of leases that are not major leases over certain land management by the trust. Clause 5 of the bill amends section 3 of the Kardinia Park Stadium Act 2016 to insert a definition of ‘major lease’, which means a lease that is for a term of 21 years or more or over the whole of the Kardinia Park stadium land. The effect of this amendment is to differentiate between the types of leases for the purposes of the minister exercising power to delegate the approval for leases that are not major leases under new section 31A inserted by clause 9 of the State Sporting Legislation Amendment Bill. In addition, clause 8 of the State Sporting Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 repeals section 30 of the Kardinia Park Stadium Act 2016 and abolishes the Kardinia Park Advisory Committee, as the committee is no longer seen as fit for purpose. The advisory committee was formed in September 2017 after all the committee groups that call Kardinia Park home reported together under one banner as the Kardinia Park Advisory Committee, known as KPAC.
The committee, since its establishment seven years ago, has been made up of several community representatives from the Kardinia Park Stadium Trust: the Geelong Football Club, the City of Greater Geelong and local sporting clubs of the Geelong surrounds. It is important that these voices are not lost from the advisory committee’s abolishment. It is important that these voices continue to be actively engaged with the continual development of the Kardinia Park stadium precinct.
In addition, the State Sporting Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 makes several amendments to the Melbourne Cricket Ground Act 2009. Clause 25 of the bill amends section 7(b) of the Melbourne Cricket Ground Act 2009 to increase the maximum number of members that can appointed to the Melbourne Cricket Ground Trust from eight to nine. Further, clause 26 of the bill amends section 9 of the principal act to provide that members of the Melbourne Cricket Ground Trust may resign by giving notice in writing, signed by the member, to the minister. Currently members are required to resign in writing, signed by the member, to the Governor in Council. It is hoped that the effect of this amendment is to reduce the administrative burden and the delays members experience when seeking to resign from office.
With the Paris Olympic Games now on, sport becomes front and centre on a global scale, and our community have been cheering on our amazing Aussie athletes. It has been wonderful to see our local schools across my electorate having many Olympic activities and celebrating participation in sport. We are very proud of our local girl Cortnee Vine, competing with the Matildas soccer team at the Paris Olympics. As you can imagine, her whole town is behind her and is very proud and cheering the whole team on. Also, future aspiring athletes get to watch the sporting dreams of our elite homegrown athletes become a reality. We have to ensure those opportunities are there and that sporting communities can get behind their athletes.
Communities need funding support so that they have adequate sporting facilities. Investing in sport keeps communities healthy and active. This government must support regional sporting facilities, and across my electorate we have a large number of run-down sporting facilities in great need of investment. The Shepparton Sports Stadium is in desperate need of a redevelopment and has been a community infrastructure priority for many years. The 1972 building is no longer fit for purpose. Both the federal and state coalition governments supported this project at the last elections. Basketball Victoria has this project as a priority project with the opportunity to attract both state and national basketball tournaments to Shepparton, which now are being lost due to the facility not being up to standard. It is worth noting Madeleine Garrick began her basketball career here in Shepparton and went on to be a professional basketballer, going on to represent Australia and play in the Women’s National Basketball League. I am sure she would be quite appalled by the lack of current investment in the basketball facilities which she played on many years ago.
Unfortunately, the people of Shepparton district, which I represent in this great place, each and every single day are paying the price for this government’s financial mismanagement, and the sports stadium is just another example. The over $20 million that we are paying in interest towards the state debt should be going towards facilities like the Shepparton Sports Stadium, as should the $600 million cost of cancelling the Commonwealth Games. Imagine the amount of sporting clubs that could have benefited from that $600 million; we could have had our stadium funded 10 times over with that money. The regional Commonwealth Games led to great disappointment in my electorate as one of the host cities – we were to host the BMX competition. We also know the economic opportunity sporting events bring to communities, filling accommodation and keeping our businesses busy. This is often an enormous economic injection. This government needs to understand how much that means to regional communities. I have heard members on their feet today talk about the investment within Melbourne, and often city-centric projects get done and regional communities miss out.
We have had incredible homegrown Olympic, Australian and world sport champions from my electorate. Cyclist Brett Lancaster, an Olympic gold medallist, has recently returned to live in Shepparton, paving the way for future sporting champions. Just this past week an exhibition was launched celebrating our local sporting heroes by the Greater Shepparton Sporting Hall of Fame, and it includes Brett’s Olympic gold medal. As you can imagine, it is very exciting for people to see a real gold medal firsthand, particularly children. My daughter Emma is also a world aerobics champion and a sporting hall of fame recipient – she gets her sporting talent from her father, obviously. This weekend her football team, Shepparton United, play in the footy grand final. I have seen firsthand the dedication and commitment of an elite athlete as well as at grassroots clubs and the need to ensure they are provided with the right infrastructure for their sport. So much sporting talent comes from regional communities, and as I have mentioned, regional communities need support and investment to provide adequate fit-for-purpose facilities, something that is significantly neglected. We also want sporting facilities that we are really proud of when we host sporting events.
Finally, I would like to wish all of our Aussie sporting champions all the best in Paris. As mentioned, this side of the house will not be opposing the bill.