Major boost for women’s sport as broadcast changes loom

PRIME Minister Anthony Albanese has said the Women’s World Cup has “changed sport in Australia forever” as he detailed a two-hundred-million-dollar boost for women’s sport and an overhaul of broadcast rules.

Mr Albanese said the Matildas had given Australians “a moment of national inspiration” as he announced the funding for the Play Our Way program in Brisbane last weekend.

He also announced the appointment of an expert panel of former female athletes to help design the program, including Liz Ellis, Lauren Jackson, Madison de Rozario and Tal Karp.

“This is an important announcement, so that women and girls everywhere in Australia can have the facilities and the support that they need to choose a sport that they love and to be able to participate,” Mr Albanese said.

“We are going to see an explosion in participation in sport, and that is why this $200 million will make a difference.”

The investment comes after Matildas captain Sam Kerr called for more money to help develop grassroots soccer in Australia after the historic Women’s World Cup semi-final appearance.

The funding will be available to upgrade facilities and provide equipment, specifically for women and girls, in a bid to get more into sport.

The program will be available for all sports but soccer, as the most played game in Australia, will take up significant resourcing.

Applications for program grants are expected to open by early 2024.

Sports Minister Anika Wells said providing safer facilities was vital.

“Too often women and girls are changing in men’s bathrooms, wearing hand me down boys uniforms, playing with men’s equipment on poor fields that boys teams wouldn’t train on,” she said.

The Government will also clarify its position on the future of the anti-siphoning list, which promotes free access to broadcasts of important sporting events.

A review of the list found the scheme needed to be modernised to incorporate online services to mitigate the risk of events slipping behind paywalls.

The review also found that the composition of the anti-siphoning list needed to be reconsidered with respect to women’s sports and para-sports.

The government’s preferred model affirms free-to-air broadcasting services as the safety net for free access to nationally important and culturally significant sporting events.

Streaming and other online services, along with subscription television broadcasters, could be prevented from securing coverage of an event on the anti‑siphoning list until a free-to-air broadcaster has a right to televise it.

Possible additions to the list include the Paralympic Games, AFLW and NRLW games and the women’s State of Origin series.

The Government’s options paper also canvasses the listing of men’s and women’s rugby league, rugby union, cricket and soccer matches that involve a senior Australian representative team.

The Government is aiming to introduce new laws to parliament in coming months.

– TESS IKONOMOU/ AAP