Members Statement: Craigieburn Sporting Events

Ms SPENCE (Yuroke) (09:56:09): I had a couple of really exciting events occur in my electorate over January that I would like to share with the house. The Indigenous Netball Championships were held in Victoria for the very first time at the Craigieburn Sports Stadium from 9 to 13 January. Thirty-eight teams travelled from all across Australia, many from remote areas, including one team that travelled for 6 hours by bus just to get to Darwin before the flight to Melbourne. The championships also included trials for the national Australian team, the Budgies, and activities such as a war cry dance-off between the competing states. Congratulations to all participants and in particular to Victorian Seven Sisters Indigenous Netball on their work in making this event happen. Our second event was the Wheelchair Tennis Open that was held from 15 to 19 January at the Hume Tennis and Community Centre for the fourth year running. The tournament attracted top elite competitors from right across the globe, including world number one Shingo Kunieda and Australian gold medal Paralympian Heath Davidson, who following the event competed with Dylan Alcott at the Australian Open, where they successfully defended their quad doubles title. The event in Craigieburn also included an international junior camp, and for many seniors it was the beginning of the journey to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. I am delighted that the Labor government helped to make this even happen with a $20 000 grant from the Significant Sporting Events Fund. I would like to particularly note the hard work of Tim Connelly and the entire team at the Hume Community and Tennis Centre, in particular Kale Nairn, who took a leadership role for the first time and did a great job.