Casey Fields Women's Centre of Excellence

Wednesday 14th of August,
Victorian Legislative Council

RACHEL PAYNE (South-Eastern Metropolitan): My adjournment matter is for the minister for sport. I, like many Australians, have spent the last few weeks captivated by the Paris Olympics, in awe of these great feats of human physicality. These Olympics were Australia’s most successful ever. Our female athletes accounted for over half of the 53 medals. Ten of those medals were won by Victorian women. I wanted to take a moment to shout out to some of the female athletes who I particularly enjoyed cheering along from home: Arisa Trew, the 14-year-old skateboarder who became the youngest ever Australian to claim gold at the games; Jess and Noémie Fox, the sisters who canoed their way to the top every time they got out on the water; Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson, who claimed silver and bronze in the women’s high jump; Saya Sakakibara, who we all watched bounce back from an injury to claim gold in the BMX racing; the entire women’s swimming team, who dominate the field at every Olympics; our Matildas, who always do us proud no matter the result; and, although she is not Australian, Imane Khelif, the Algerian boxer who claimed gold while showing so much strength and grace in the face of unfounded online hate. These women and many more who competed at the games are a beacon of inspiration for young women, and old, all around Australia.

World-class athletes like our Olympians need world-class facilities to train and learn in. In my region the Women’s Centre of Excellence at Casey Fields is an elite level sporting facility currently in development. It will be the only rectangular venue capable of hosting elite-level training and competition outside of the Melbourne CBD. $43.29 million has already been invested by the City of Casey and the Melbourne City Football Club to develop the Casey Fields precinct, but further funding is required to complete the Women’s Centre. I ask: will the minister commit funding to this new women’s sporting complex so our female athletes have the best opportunity possible to reach their potential and go for gold?

Response Received, Tuesday 1st of October:

Our Olympic and Paralympic athletes are a demonstration of peak sporting performance. Through their feats, they have, and continue to inspire kids across the globe.

To support our athletes, through the 2024-25 State Budget the Victorian Government provided a $1.5 million contribution to the 2024 Australian Olympic and Paralympic Team Appeal Fund which was split equally between the two teams. The Victorian Government proudly supports women and girls in their efforts to realise their sporting potential and demonstrates this through investment into several projects that support women and girls in high performance sport.

The Victorian Government’s $101.1 million investment in the La Trobe University Sports Park included $42.29 million into the state-of-the-art Home of the Matildas facility, a world-class football facility that is now the long-term training base for all Football Australia national women’s squads, including the Matildas senior team, Young Matildas (Under 20s) and Junior Matildas (under 17s). It also serves as the State Centre for Football in Victoria, providing pathway and professional programs which will strengthen elite competition and develop future generations of Matildas.

Further to this, the Victorian Government has a proud history of supporting women’s Australian rules football. Since 2018, the government has invested more than $150 million in infrastructure projects that support women to play Australian rules football at the highest level.

One of these projects was the $5 million investment through the 2018-19 State budget towards the Casey Fields AFLW Capital Upgrades. The upgrades included new change rooms, an indoor training facility and strength and conditioning spaces. The upgraded facilities will support training and matches for Melbourne Football Club’s AFLW program.

The Victorian Government’s commitment to the development of high performance and elite sport remains strong and will continue to deliver the infrastructure and pathways to develop athletes all Victorians can be proud of.

Steve Dimopoulos MP
Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events