FIFA Women's World Cup – Motion

Thursday 31 August 2023 

S.E. ANDREWS (Gibson) (12:26): I rise to speak in support of the motion. My biggest congratulations to the Matildas on Australia's most successful football campaign at a World Cup ever. I think none of us are ever going to forget those 17 minutes, the longest penalty shootout we have ever experienced. What an exciting time that was. The fact that they held their resolve and won that game is an absolute credit to them and it will never be forgotten. 

What this World Cup gave us was that we saw women being celebrated for their strength, for their compassion towards each other and their professionalism. That is their legacy. We did not spend time obsessing on the fact that 100 of those players we saw playing in the Women's World Cup are out as gay. We did not spend time obsessing about differences and cultural diversity as the player from Morocco was the first ever in a FIFA World Cup game to wear a hijab. These football players gave women visibility. 

We celebrated them for who they are, and they achieved this despite having careers in which they did not have the development opportunities that men have always had. We think of Sam Kerr. She started playing her sport of choice, Australian Rules, and came to football late in the scene because Australian Rules did not have a place for her. So many of us in our sporting lives as women have not had development opportunities that we would like to see, yet despite all this we have been successful. 

Unfortunately, at this Women's World Cup, we only received 25 per cent of the prize money that men receive if they win a World Cup. In response to women calling this out, the FIFA president says, 'Well, women should just come and knock on the door,' yet they are well aware that we do not get equal pay. This is not women's responsibility to knock on the door; in fact, FIFA have the money now to pay women equally, and they choose not to. Part of the problem is that only four of the 29 people of the executive committee members of FIFA are women. It is no surprise that women's voices are not heard at this level. We need representation at all levels of this game. 

It was fantastic to see all the referees, officials and our lineswomen at all the games, yet we do need more managers at all levels of the game. I know that, as a woman having played football for so much of my life, I have never had a female coach. I know that so many of us would really respond so positively to the opportunities and understanding of having a female coach, and we really need to take this opportunity to develop more females into managerial roles in this sport. I think it is worth noting, too, that internationally we have a long way to go. Prince William is the head of the Football Association in the United Kingdom. He did not come to Australia despite the fact that we are in the commonwealth. 

He did not come to watch the Lionesses play in the final of the World Cup. That says a lot. I suspect he might have been there if the men were playing in the World Cup. However, he did kindly take some time to create a video sitting next to his daughter—not his sons, his daughter—because only girls care about women's football. We have absolutely proved that wrong, as the member for Waite said. In his video he said to the Lionesses to 'go out and enjoy yourselves'. He is not taking our game seriously. We have a long way to go and this is our opportunity to build on the legacy that the Matildas gave us. 

I am proud to say, though, that our Premier has read the room. He wishes to celebrate women in sport and acknowledge this as an opportunity to build on the success of the Matildas as he announced $18 million for women's sport in South Australia with $10 million of that quarantined for women's football, and with clubs in Gibson still lacking female facilities this is very welcome. It will not be forgotten by sports players in Gibson that it was our previous member and the previous sports minister who cut the program for female sports facilities. We are here to build it back. We want girls and women to have the same opportunities as men. 

We know that all the games at Hindmarsh were sold out, as they were across the country, and it was brilliant to go to many of those games and see the diversity of the crowds. We have families attending women's football events, we have young boys asking whether there is a male Matildas team and we have a whole bunch of people who are watching football for the first time in their lives and really getting excited and backing the Matildas. 

This diversity of crowds creates an inclusive culture, and I would like to acknowledge women's sport for creating that. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the volunteers who spent an awful lot of their own time to make this campaign such a success. They really were brilliant at their jobs because as you attended the games you probably hardly noticed them so seamless were they in their operations. 

I would like to once again thank our Premier for seeing the opportunity that the Matildas legacy has presented us and so quickly responding and giving an investment in women's sport in South Australia.