Tuesday, 16 August 2022

Commonwealth Games

Ms GREEN (Yan Yean) (19:23): (6485) My adjournment matter this evening is for the attention of the Minister for Commonwealth Games Delivery, and I am really pleased that I have been with the minister and all the other Spring Street Bombers tonight upstairs in the Federation Room, particularly the member for Broadmeadows, the member for Eltham, the member for Mordialloc and so many others. We even got the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events to wear an Essendon scarf. We are looking forward so much to the launch and the first match of the Essendon AFLW team this weekend. But I digress, Deputy Speaker, and I know you are particularly interested in matters Essendon.

The action that I seek from the Minister for Commonwealth Games Delivery is for her to advise the many small communities that are situated between the fabulous regional cities of the Deputy Premier’s own Bendigo and Ballarat as to how they can participate in and engage with the opportunities presented by the 2026 Commonwealth Games. Labor’s candidate for Ripon, Martha Haylett, and I have visited many clubs, schools and local governments, especially in the Central Goldfields and Loddon shires, and we have heard how much they really want to be involved. They see the opportunities that the Commonwealth Games in these regional cities really present. We know that in the lead-up to the Commonwealth Games there will be the need for many training facilities and for teams to have local homes, and we expect that the teams will come out well before the initiation of the games in March 2026. There will also be lead-up events in a variety of sports, and I am really pleased to see that so many of these communities, particularly in the Central Goldfields and Loddon shires, are absolutely positioned and wanting to participate in the sporting program across all abilities—we know that it is particularly important that people with disability are athletes in the Commonwealth Games—but also in the cultural program. That is such an important part, and we have seen at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games closing ceremony how our Indigenous people played such a role in that. So there are amazing opportunities for the Dja Dja Wurrung and other Indigenous groups across the Ripon electorate, particularly Central Goldfields and Loddon, and I urge the minister to meet with these stakeholders and give them her views.