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Legislative Assembly
 
Broadmeadows electorate sporting facilities

23 March 2017
Adjournment
FRANK McGUIRE  (ALP)

 


Mr McGUIRE (Broadmeadows) — (12 501) The adjournment matter I raise is for the Minister for Sport. The action I seek is that he join me on a tour of Broadmeadows to look at potential sites to establish a sporting hub. The need is strong in the area, and I think putting together a hub would be of real significance because we are now working with the transition task forces on how we get new industries and jobs for those who have lost them as we transfer through deindustrialisation, and the minister, from his background in the community and also his position as the Minister for Sport knows about how to connect the disconnected through sport.

I want to particularly raise the significance that Rugby League could play in the community. Two years ago I was fortunate enough to host Cameron Smith, not just the captain of Melbourne Storm but the captain of the Australian team, who came out with one of the protégés from the area, Young Tonumaipea, who grew up in the Broadmeadows community — he went to one of the local primary schools and also to Roxburgh College. We went to some of the schools in the area, and we were able to talk students through the skills and the discipline that are required. I thought it was quite amazing for them to actually understand that. Cameron Smith is a very self-effacing player, and I had to explain just how significant his role has been.

With the number of different backgrounds of people in the electorate of Broadmeadows, I think this would be a place that is right for the development of any number of sports, but I think one of the critical points is the physique of the players, particularly those who come from an Islander background. The electorate of Broadmeadows has a large cohort of people from these communities, so I think that is something that we should look at. I am not prescriptive in sports. I would look at sports of all sorts, for teenagers, for boys and for girls — it is not about where you come from but what the opportunities are.

As we are trying to do that, we can provide skills for lifelong learning, get people into a better health proposition and give them skills for jobs. Sport connects people and gives them that sense of being in a team, not a gang, and of being disciplined. Sport can show people the way through with the discipline that it can deliver, and I think this would be a wonderful achievement.