Wednesday, 1 November 2023

 Cindy McLEISH (Eildon) (16:10:260:): I want to use the final time allocated to me to talk about golf. Golf is not an exclusive sport, but we have people in this chamber, and political parties – the Greens political party – that want to make golf an exclusive sport. The way they spout misinformation about golf and what it means and what it generates is just simply wrong. Now, we saw today that they want the Melbourne Cup banned, which is just staggering as well, but we have had a lot of activity at Northcote golf course and now at Oakleigh golf course, because the Greens at Monash council are pretty keen to turn Oakleigh golf course into a public park. We just cannot afford to have publicly available golf courses closed down for parks, because we have loads of parks in certain areas.

The figures that I have got here: there are 3.5 million adult Australians who played a form of golf in the last 12 months. Only 14 per cent of those are members of golf clubs. It is not like everybody who plays golf belongs to an exclusive club – 86 per cent of people do not even belong to a club. And if you are somebody like me that belongs to the Yea Golf Club, let me tell you that is anything but exclusive. We are lucky that we do not have sand scrapes and that we have grass greens thanks to some Japanese investment a couple of decades ago.

At Oakleigh public course there are more than 30,000 rounds of golf played each year. This does not sound as though it is not being used. They have a veterans group, and the pro down there, Sandy Jamieson, who I do know, is such a great pro. He has programs now for golfers with a disability, and he does a lot of work. He also does a lot of work with some First Nations groups, trying to give them access to golf. The green fees at this club cost less than $20, and you cannot take away somewhere it is so cheap to play a sport such as this.

There are so many golfers who have made the big time who started their golf at public courses, which makes sense. We have Geoff Ogilvy; he was great at match play. He started at Cheltenham. Peter Thomson, a five-time British Open champion, was at Royal Park, just up the road. Stuart Appleby was at Cohuna. Adam Scott – not a Victorian, but he actually started at North Adelaide public course. Cam Smith, whose golf we have all celebrated recently, was at Wantima Country Club; it is a public course in Queensland. Karrie Webb – also at a public course, at Ayr in Queensland.

Of the 3.5 million golfers, 530,000 are members of clubs, as I have said, and 1.68 million people play social golf at public courses like Oakleigh, like Northcote, like Morack, like Keilor Park. The remaining 1.29 million play at other venues, like at driving ranges and indoor simulators, which are the pathways leading them onto courses. We need to make sure that these golf courses remain open to the public, and the more that the Greens push to close them, the more they are forcing people to join golf clubs. And for some people, that is just not going to be affordable.

Golf also has a number of community benefits – in Victoria, $844 million per annum. That is an economic contribution of $349 million, a social benefit of $256 million and an environmental benefit of $239 million. Social benefits include physical activity – being out there and being active rather than being inactive. The physical health benefits are valued at $102 million and the mental health benefits at $106 million, and I think there is no-one who cannot argue that being outdoors on a great day playing golf is physically and mentally great for your health. I know Mark Twain was famously quoted as at some time saying golf is a good walk ruined, but I do not think we all need to agree with him.

The neighbourhood amenity uplift and breaking up of urban spaces is valued at $48 million. I want to mention also the environmental benefits: flora and fauna biodiversity, $114 million. I know that certainly at Yea and at many clubs even in the city you do see lots of animals. There are plenty of snakes about – there are always signs up. There are echidnas, there are kangaroos, there are wallabies, there are so many animals and wonderful plant life. The impact of urban cooling – $35 million. We know about heating up. These open spaces have such a great impact. The flood and stormwater management – you can value that at $51 million. Water filtration and purification, $37 million; and carbon sequestration, $2 million.

You can see there are so many social and environmental benefits of golf, and I think that misinformation peddled by the Greens needs to be curtailed. They need to take a good look at golf as a whole. It is not a sport for wealthy people. It is not an exclusive sport, it is something that we all can benefit from. It just kills me every time I hear some of the comments that are made, because this misinformation should not be out there. We need to get the correct information on the record, and I was very pleased to use this opportunity today to do so.