Legislative Council, Tuesday 8 April 2025

Ms FORREST (Murchison) - Mr President, I appreciate the member for Elwick bringing this motion forward. It is obviously something she is very passionate about, too, and having seen the success of the JackJumpers - we should rightly be proud of them - who are housed in the electorate of Elwick, I understand the passion.

I am not going to go through a lot of matters that other members have raised. The member for Elwick did a very good job covering the benefits as other members have. It is also helpful to hear the sporting prowess history of the member for Mersey.

A bit of a history lesson for us in some of these things, but to also acknowledge the north-west coast's great strength in all sports, like AFL, basketball - really, the kids get out because what else do you do? Rather than get into trouble, it is best to get out and play sport. Thankfully, a lot of our young people do. Sadly, however, there are a lot of people who cannot afford to participate in some of the costlier sports. The beauty of basketball is that all you need to practise - is some concrete, a hoop, and a basketball - you can do it on your own.

Mrs Hiscutt - Through you, Mr President. The Ticket to Play program is very successful.

Ms FORREST - Yes, that is right. You do not even need to have your own piece of concrete and your own basketball hoop because most communities have them. It is accessible. It makes it easy for kids to hang out together and play. To practise shooting hoops and the like, get some exercise, and build some friendships without needing to pay expensive joining fees for pools or other facilities. It makes it a much more accessible sport to participate in, even if it is only at an individual or small group level. Getting into a team situation and playing within the team - and they are small community organisations, which, as the member for Mersey pointed out, are based around towns and that sort of thing. It was affordable, it was achievable and the communities looked out for these kids who perhaps were struggling financially to make it possible for them. It is a different situation in many other sports. I think that is why, particularly in the north-west, with a very dispersed population, it has been quite a successful model. I have only played one game of basketball.

Mr Edmunds - Shame. Shame.

Mrs Hiscutt - Shame on you.

Ms FORREST - I was more of a netballer and touch football, they were my sports. And, because there are things you can do when you are on the netball court and on the touch field that you cannot do on basketball, I was fouled off in the first five minutes - I had no idea what I had done wrong. So, yes, I did not know what the rules were, clearly, and I thought maybe I will just stick with what I know. So, anyway -

Ms Rattray - Through you, Mr President, I imagined the honourable member with a hockey stick actually.

Ms FORREST - No, hockey was not a thing at my school. No, hockey was not played. It was netball for the girls pretty much. Hockey was not a thing. My kids played hockey.

Mrs Hiscutt - Thank goodness, Mr President.

Ms FORREST - Yes, hockey is a mouthguard and shin pads, that is what you needed. But, in any event, that was not one of the options at Ulverstone High or Riana Area and Hellyer College. We just got on and did our work and got out of there, and I think it is also evident - just to fly the parochial flag for a moment - it is pretty clear to me that the south can learn things from the north-west if only they choose to look. So, I will just leave it at that.

Now, the member for Mersey did talk about the Wynyard Wildcats or Wynyard young club that was established in 1974. I am not going to go into a whole heap more about their information, but I did in the short time I had available, once I noticed his motion was on the notice paper, reach out to just a couple of my clubs in my area. I went to Somerset to get some feedback from them and also to Smithton Saints Basketball Club just to understand, because I have heard from these clubs on many occasions about the growth and the challenges with accessing facilities and I do go to the member for Mersey's comments about underutilised school facilities.

This is the thing that I am very aware of and there are some steps being taken. I was aware of the audit being undertaken around this, but it is a really important aspect. I know when Smithton High, when we finally got the new gym down there, one of the key things that the student executive council members, who I brought down here to meet with then minister for education Lin Thorp, so it is a while ago, to meet the school executives, the council students came down, met with her.

The main point they wanted to make was not only just get rid of this horrible old 1960s-constructed gymnasium, which was unsafe in just about every way you could look at it, and change rooms I would not have got undressed in, but their key concern was that it had to be accessible to the community. It had to have a separate entrance that the community could access from the street that runs past the school. It had to have separate facilities that could be accessed from within the school when being used by school students but be able to be completely separated from the school when necessary.

It was a really worthwhile investment, and I was so proud of those kids for recognising that need and for recognising they would not benefit but the community would, because they were in year 10 and they were leaving to go on to college at Hellyer or into apprenticeships and other things.

I wanted to reiterate some of the reality that is happening on the north-west coast in terms of basketball. The Somerset Amateur Basketball Association was established in 1985, 11 years after the Wynyard association was, and operates out of the Somerset Indoor Recreation Centre. It is the youngest of eight regional associations, with both women and men competing in the under-22 and senior North West Basketball Union, along with girls' and boys' under-10s, under-12s, under-14s, under-16s and under-18s competing in Tasmanian JackJumpers Junior League north-west conference in Tasmania.

Over the last decade, it has experienced significant growth and when I was doorknocking for my last election, I knocked on the door not realising who it was - it was, I think, the president of the club. So, I got the full catastrophe back two years ago about how the growth is really making it difficult for them to be able to provide the opportunities for the young people and not-so-young people who wish to play there.

This growth has been particularly over the last five years, with numbers exploding post-COVID from 232 playing members in 2020 to 500 at the end of 2024. That is huge growth in a small community like this.

The Somerset Amateur Basketball Association believes this growth is due to the following: the appointment of a full time basketball development officer; the JackJumpers joining the National Basketball League and their subsequent success let us hope that it is ongoing, that it is just a blip in their performance at the minute and; management committee focus on providing domestic rosters, thus giving opportunity and a pathway for those in our community and surrounds to train, plan and develop to play, and develop their skills from under 8s all the way through to seniors and beyond. You do see there are some little 'tackers' going there playing basketball.

The above factors reflect the club's commitment to fostering competitive basketball in the region. The club has reached maximum capacity for its current facility and now has to hire off site courts for just some of its junior weekly training sessions. Again, there is not an actual high school that has a big hall in Somerset so they are really limited and they are feeling the pinch as well.

The club is severely restricted for times to run its local domestic senior rosters and currently can only provide these during the last quarter of the year due to a lack of resources. They would also like to provide additional local junior rosters for the under-18s and under-20s, but are unable to due to a lack of facilities. The club believes domestic rosters for these age groups are essential to keep the juniors engaged and playing through to seniors.

The club operates primarily as the Somerset Indoor Recreation Centre on Beaufort St. This facility features one full-size indoor basketball court and one three-quarter court equipped with eight hoops, scoreboards and shot clocks. Additional amenities include the changerooms, canteen, meeting rooms and bar facilities supporting both sporting events and community gatherings.

I do note the the minister's comments about investment in the Burnie facility and that is fine, but this has been a growing as a challenge for the last four years and a real problem for them. To think they only have one full-size court, it is inadequate. Whilst Hobart does need investment in the south, to say that everything is rosy and good up in the north-west is not the case. There is a real need for additional courts and facilities to enable full participation.

Just to go further to the west, with regard to the Smithton Saints Basketball Club, as a small yet rapidly growing community basketball club in Smithton. I asked them for a statement, I was going to read what they sent me, initially. What they sent to me was:

As a small yet rapidly growing community basketball club in Smithton, north-west Tasmania, we are writing to express our strong support for the motion being put forward in parliament regarding the urgent need for improved basketball facilities across the state.

They are recognising here that the south does need it, but so do they and so do we on the north-west coast and other towns.

Our club has experienced notable growth in recent years, reflecting a broader trend of increased participation in basketball across all age groups. We now run local tournaments every school term, welcoming children as young as five through to senior men's and women's teams.

Our club is proud to field more junior players than ever before, particularly an encouraging rise in participation among girls. This growth has been accompanied by surging community engagement and membership. Families across the community are choosing basketball not only as a pathway for sporting excellence but also as a means of building community confidence and connection. We know how vital team sports are to mental health and social wellbeing, something our committee desperately needs right now.

Our club has a strong track record of developing talent. Several of our players have gone on to represent the state and even progress to elite levels, including Jacob Furphy.

who was mentioned by the member for Elwick

and Nash Walker, who are currently at the basketball centre of excellence at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.

You can achieve great things from clubs that do not have all the bells and whistles too, but it is not easy for them. But there they are achieving at the Australian Institute of Sport.

Back to their statement:

This year alone we have nine athletes in the state program, an achievement that speaks to the dedication of our coaches, volunteers and players and the potential that exists within our community. However, this momentum is being held back by one major challenge, the lack of suitable facilities. We simply do not have the space to accommodate the growing number of players, teams and supportive spectators. We are constantly juggling venue hire across different locations to ensure everyone gets court time. This adds strain on families, limits the capacity to train and develop players and reduces opportunities for community engagement through sport. Clubs from along the coast regularly travel to participate in our senior rosters, further increasing the demand on our limited facilities.

Effectively over-utilised, some of these facilities, if you can say that:

Investment in expanded and upgraded basketball infrastructure to multiple courts in Smithton, north west Tasmania, is essential, not only to support our community but also to help nurture the next generation of Tasmanian basketball talent. We are not just building athletes, we are building community, resilience and opportunity. We urge decision makers to prioritise funding for regional basketball facilities so that clubs like ours can continue to grow, thrive and serve our communities well into the future.

That is the end of their statement but I think they have really outlined how important this is and the challenges are everywhere around the state. I know that the budget is limited and all of that, so it is important to look at the full utilisation of spaces, particularly in schools because they are not utilised during the school holidays. They are not utilised after 3.30 or 4 o'clock generally. Some of them are for other activities, but there is a whole heap of time - they are not utilised on weekends. So, there is a whole heap of time when these beautiful facilities are being built, some not so beautiful, but a lot of them are, the new ones are, they are just sitting there empty. So, we do need to look at better ways of delivering what our communities absolutely need and I think, to a degree, we can have most things in most places if we fully utilise the facilities we have.

It is also important to note that from 2023 24, the Smithton Saints Basketball Club had 50 more children attend their local rosters from the year before and have doubled their Aussie Hoops registrations. They have just received new backboards and hoops which is fantastic. However, due to demand, they are still having to hire other facilities to be able to run all their programs and have all their junior representative teams able to train. You want to keep the young people, the kids, engaged. If they go off and lose interest, they may or may not take up another sport, which is fine if they do, but if you lose them to sport then you are not really looking after their long term health and wellbeing.

The Smithton Club also have to share their facility with the badminton club. During the badminton season, they are unable to utilise the stadium while the badminton club are using it. These facilities are not underutilised. There is a need around the state and that is why - these basketball clubs are not actually the subject of this motion directly - recognise that, they are not saying 'Do not do it in Hobart, do it up here', they are saying 'Take a look around the whole state and be aware that this is a really important sport and that many people are participating.' It is accessible and it is something that a lot of our disadvantaged families can engage with in a way that does not see them excluded as some other of the more expensive and, perhaps, more elite forms of many sports do.

So, just going back to the member's motion, I know she is not calling directly for a particular amount of money to be committed to. She is asking the government to raise the profile of this. Raise the profile in the federal election like now. So, it is timely and if the federal government or federal candidates and parties are interested in the health and wellbeing of Tasmanians, this is a really good place to start. So, I commend her for bringing it forward. Ihope that the Tasmanian government will advocate strongly with their counterparts and the opposition with their counterparts trying to ensure that we do have the facilities we need and have the funding available to make the changes that may be necessary with the currently existing underutilised facilities to maximise their use so that no kid who wants to participate feels they cannot or is excluded because they just cannot get on a court.

So, I support the motion and I commend the member for bringing it forward. It is a really important matter to discuss, particularly right now.