The amazing achievements of the Matildas on the global stage, at a World Cup held on home soil, cannot be understated.
To go further than any Australian team at a World Cup, with significant impediments in funding at a grassroots level against top footballing nations, is no small feat.
They rightly deserve the nation’s praise for the incredible run and fourth place finish.
It did remind me however, of the importance of funding our grassroots sporting clubs, particularly when it comes to support the dramatic increase in participation in women’s sport.
During the 2022 election, I was proud to have been able to secure vital local community sports upgrade commitments from the Liberal National Party (LNP).
Supporting female sports was at the forefront of our funding promises to our local sporting clubs, such as $5 million which was allocated towards upgrading Beenleigh’s tennis complex and $3.6 million to fund improvements for the sports club at Hammel Park in Beenleigh – where we have women’s teams represented in netball, rugby league and baseball.
Clubs in Hammel Park, such as the Beenleigh Netball Club, have had to contend with a forty-year-old building that does not have showers or proper First Aid rooms.
Netball is another sport where our topflight women have had remarkable success, with our Australian Diamonds recently winning the Netball World Cup.
Following the Election, I wrote to the Prime Minister, urging him to match the funding commitments made across the electorate of Forde, by the LNP, including these valuable sporting infrastructure upgrades.
I have also written, and provided pre-Budget submissions, to the Treasurer and the Minister for Infrastructure, highlighting the importance of these projects and why they should be fully funded, but I am yet to hear any response.
Last week the Coalition announced that we would commit $250 million towards community sport upgrades, and it was pleasing to see the Federal Government acknowledge this need by announcing their own pool of funding, in response.
I will continue to call for the commitments made by the LNP in Forde and work to support the fantastic efforts of our grassroot sporting clubs.
