ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thanks everyone for joining us at what is a very exciting announcement here at Leichhardt Oval. This is an iconic venue and it's about not just sport, it's really about people's identity - people who've played here, people who've come and watched their heroes here. It is a venue that will see more than 100 different sporting events this year. Everything from West Tigers, Sydney FC games, to local school sport and junior activity as well. Both importantly, because what we're seeing is an enormous growth in women's team sport. And this will be a venue, with this upgrade, that will allow for more participation and more women's teams to play here, including the Tigers rugby league women's team, as well as Sydney FC women's team as well. This $40 million upgrade, $20 million from the federal government, $10 from NSW and $10 from the Inner West Council will see a new grandstand built on the northern end of this oval. Women's, in particular, change rooms and important upgrades of facilities here below the existing grandstand, the seating around the ground upgraded to a decent level, and importantly as well, the amenities upgraded so that we can avoid the big queues that cause so much frustration when there's a big crowd here at Leichhardt Oval. These local sporting grounds are so important for building community. I grew up not far from here in Camperdown, and it's a place when I come to Leichhardt Oval where I inevitably run into people I went to school with, people I worked with in Grace Brothers or worked with at Maccas, around this local community, people I grew up with as well. That's why rugby league and football and other sports are about more than just what happens on the field. It's about your identity. It's about who you are, that sense of community, and Leichhardt Oval is at the heart of this community here in the Inner West. There's nowhere you'd rather be than on the hill below the Wayne Pearce sign up there on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, talking with friends and mates, making new ones as well. And that's why this announcement is so important. The truth is that this ground is not fit for purpose. And if this upgrade did not occur we would inevitably see major sporting events leave this local community, and that's not what Sydney needs. Sydney needs more activity. We need to, at a time where there's a debate about social media, I want young people to get off their phones and get onto the fields, onto the netball courts, onto ways in which they can engage with each other. They learn how to win, they learn how to lose, they learn the importance of cooperation as well, which is why team sports is so important. And I want to thank particularly the Tigers and Sydney FC, who've joined us here today. Some icons of the game in Wayne Pearce and Steve Roach. But importantly as well, players as well, we will see increasingly this ground be cherished by future generations, just as it was by my generation when I was growing up as a young person in this local community. So well done to all involved in this project. I look forward to coming back when the oval is brought up to speed, brought up to where it should be. Thanks very much.
STEVE KAMPER, NEW SOUTH WALES MINISTER FOR SPORT: Well thanks, Anthony. And it's great to be here this morning for this really special announcement, and it's an all of government approach to getting this thing done. Future proofing Leichhardt Oval. This is, I mean, the historic significance of this oval is, everyone's familiar with that. And it's great to be part making a contribution as the NSW government to making this happen. And what's great about it is the commitment to, you know, to women's sport that's part of this whole arrangement. Fifty per cent of the activity that's going to be on the facility moving forward will be for women's sport. And we've seen the success of the girls here at Sydney FC and how well they've done. The crowds that they've generated here, it's well deserved. We need to complement that with the top quality facilities and that's what we're going to have. Very, very proud to be here with all of our local legends as well. I remember sitting on that hill many, many moons ago, watching Steve Roach smashing into Craig Young as a front row forward. These things remain in your memory as a youngster. And you know, what we've got today is that dream, Leichhardt Oval, this wonderful facility, and all of the community that's part of this is going to see it here forever and a day. I want to pay tribute to Darcy Byrne for all the hard work he's done campaigning throughout. I can now officially say that I'll unblock him from my phone. But yeah, no, it's been a great effort and thanks to the federal government, too. It's great to be here with the Prime Minister today making this announcement. Thanks very much.
DARCY BYRNE, MAYOR OF THE INNER WEST COUNCIL: Well, Happy Leichhardt Oval Day, everybody. One thing's for sure, Keith Barnes and Laurie Nichols are looking down this morning with a tear in their eye and a smile on their face. And there's so many thousands of people across Australia who have that same emotional attachment to Leichhardt Oval, the hardest working and best suburban ground in Australia. The truth is that without this investment, the eighth wonder of the world was going to close. And I want to say on behalf of our local community, to Anthony Albanese, who was already my favourite Rabbitohs fan. I think he's now officially the favourite Rabbitohs fan of every West Tiger. And also to Steve Roach and to Wayne Pearce, who have been so staunch in their advocacy in making sure that this ground was saved. To Peter V’landys, who, from the moment he came in as the head of the NRL, has been absolutely clear that suburban grounds have a future and that we have to invest in them. And I do in particular want to thank rampaging Roy Slaven for talking about the heritage listing of the Leichhardt Oval toilets every single weekend for the last decade. And if Roy wants them heritage listed, that's what we're going to do. This is about saving West Tigers at Leichhardt Oval, but it's also about the future of this ground as a hub for women and girls sport. Sydney FC women's team, the championship winning team, played there this year and there was a whole new generation of young people who came through this ground and watched sport at the eighth wonder of the world for the first time. And we're absolutely committed to keeping them here now that they've had such a positive experience. We've got 120 separate sporting fixtures at Leichhardt Oval this year. More than 30 per cent of them are women's events. When the ground is renovated, our goal will be for 50 per cent of all of the content here to be women's and girls’ sport. We've seen a flood of female participation coming into all of our sports, but we have to invest in the facilities that are needed to enable that participation. So, on behalf of the Inner West Council, I want to say to the Federal Government, to the NSW Government, to everybody who's fought to save the eighth wonder of the world. Thank you. We've done it.
PRIME MINISTER: Well done, Darcy. And now we have a soundtrack behind us of the Tigers, which shows their enthusiasm for this announcement as well. We're happy to take questions on this, firstly, before we move on to other things, and obviously we've got Peter and some of the other people from the clubs here as well.
JOURNALIST: Peter, does this mean that the Tigers will be playing more games here?
PETER V’LANDYS, CHAIRMAN OF THE AUSTRALIAN RUGBY LEAGUE COMMISSION: Well, we hope so. Absolutely. The strategy has always been to bring them back to Leichhardt Oval, but that's a matter for the Tigers club and Barry O'Farrell, who's here today, who is a staunch Leichhardt Oval man, so I'm sure that they will be playing more games.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible].
V’LANDYS: Look, that's a matter for the Tigers club, but for me, it's more important for the junior games here. It's a multifaceted facility and especially for women's sport. We're playing our under 19 State of Origin games here. It's more than just the Tigers. It's all about the community and about the, in particular, the junior sport. And I echo what the Prime Minister said, how important it is to encourage team participation, because it sets you up for life. When you play in a team, you become selfless. You don't become as selfish as you do when you play individual sports. And to get kids off the computers and onto these sort of grounds is the most important thing to me.
JOURNALIST: Former Premier, did you want to add to that?
BARRY O'FARRELL, FORMER PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES: Firstly, can I stand in front of the cameras, probably. Can I thank the Prime Minister and Darcy for their commitment to the upgrade of this ground so that West Tigers men's and women's teams can play here in facilities that they deserve. We made clear in March that we will be putting in place a stadium plan for the future years by the end of this month. This decision makes it much easier to put that plan together and to guarantee the future of games here at Leichhardt Oval.
JOURNALIST: So do you think you’ll play more fixtures here?
O’FARRELL: When the Board makes that decision, we'll make that announcement. But it certainly makes it easier. It wouldn't have made it easier if the decision hadn't been here. And I'm an optimist and I'm optimistic about the State Government also eventually putting some money as well.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: John Sekta is someone who I expelled from the Labor Party.
JOURNALIST: He said, if you want to betray us, you’re going to pay a price. What do you think of that sort of language?
PRIME MINISTER: I think that you probably encourage him by asking questions about him, given his character.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: It's up to the AFL, who the AFL have in positions, and not up to anyone but the AFL.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister. We saw the State Government reduce the kids vouchers, but we've also seen registration fees and insurance fees go up in that timeframe. Is the Federal Government going to be putting any money in to get kids off the screens and into the fields?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we're doing is putting money into programs like this. We have a substantial program as well for women's and girls’ sports. We are providing extensive support as well. You'll see some further commitments made in the lead up to the Olympics that are being held as well. I think that activities such as this are very important. The Federal Government is in a position to fund infrastructure and upgrades and that is the role that we're playing.
JOURNALIST: Would you have a conversation with your state colleagues in regards to that?
PRIME MINISTER: The State Government do a great job and there are eight of them around Australia. My task is to look after the Federal Government. That's a big enough job.
JOURNALIST: State Government have funded [inaudible] before. Why should the Federal Government be involved here?
PRIME MINISTER: The Federal Government's been involved in upgrades, myself as a Former Infrastructure Minister, we put some money into here, that grandstand at Leichhardt Oval. We put money into Brookvale Oval, we put money into Newcastle Stadium, we put money into the Gold Coast Sun Stadium, $37 million, when I was the Minister, so as to enable that to occur in the Commonwealth Games, we put money into Kogarah. This is consistent with that. This is important. This oval is iconic for Sydney and it simply isn't up to scratch. It's not acceptable that the girls and women who are playing here don't have appropriate facilities that enable women's participation in team sport.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: Well, they're pretty ordinary. That's the truth of the matter. They're just not up to scratch for players and in particular for women's team sport to be able to participate here. I grew up not far from here I used to catch the 470 bus from outside Pyrmont Bridge Road, get off down the road here and walk up on Wednesday nights to watch what then the Amco Cup and other sports. I remember back, Penrith beat, Penrith v. Western division in the first final on a Wednesday night where people like 'TV' Ted Ellery and Terry Fahey went on to play for my beloved Rabbitohs. And it is just, we all have memories here. I have memories still very recently, you know, I always go for a walk along the hill there. The Tigers fans are very passionate, but they're pretty generous. So, they get into you if you got your Souths gear on, as they should, as very loyalists. But it's all in good spirit. And that's the thing, there's nothing better than the feeling of community on that hill. And that's why we can't allow grounds like this to just disappear. And this is, you can call it a rescue package of $40 million, because if it didn't occur, then the facilities would continue to be downgraded. The West Tigers wouldn't be under pressure to do the right thing by playing local games here because they simply would walk away if it wasn't up to scratch, so that's important. Whether it be, we put money into Campbelltown when we were in government last time as well. These local grounds are what build local community and local engagement. They are so important. And people love coming to Leichhardt Oval to watch the footy. I'll be at Accor tonight watching Souths and Brisbane. I'll be a long way away from where the action is. Here you can feel the hits, particularly if a bloke like Steve Roach is making them. You can feel the ground move, and that's really important, and it's a part of that belonging that's vital.
JOURNALIST: Sorry, one more question. Mark Butler said you've directed him to pause hospital funding for NDIS reform negotiations. How long will that take and what does catching up mean?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the National Cabinet made a decision last year of health funding going forward, but also on NDIS reform that's so necessary, and we've seen some of the reasons why come out again in recent times. We want to make sure with state and territory governments that we move forward on the reform program. We need to continue to strengthen Medicare, that's my government's objective. And we need as well to continue to ensure that the NDIS is sustainable going forward so that people with disabilities get the support and help that they need. And so that is what we are doing through the National Cabinet process. And that National Cabinet process will come back to future meetings and I'm sure that we'll get this done.
JOURNALIST: In relation to John Setka, you said that it's a matter for the AFL. Does that mean that you will be staying out of it like he suggested, you and Tony Burke?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, I know you seem to be very interested in this bloke. Why? It's none of his business what occurs with the AFL. That's a matter for the AFL.
JOURNALIST: So, isn't [Inaudible] to try and unseat [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: It’s a matter for the AFL. John Setka is someone whose behaviour led me to expel him from the Labor party.
JOURNALIST: So, why won't you publicly rebuke his behaviour this time?
PRIME MINISTER: I think I just did, in case you weren't noticing, as I did yesterday, as I did the day before.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, your social media age verification trial. What’s that going to look like and when's it going to happen?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's happening now. The funding was in the budget, $6.5 million dollars. We need to make sure that we get it right. Young people need to be kept smart and safe online. And what we need to make sure is that young people, because they are smart with VPN's, with various methods as well, we need to make sure that any measures designed to keep people safe are effective. And that's why you have a trial, so that people don't just go into smart chats or other forms, that they can undertake this behaviour, which is worrying for all. I think that every parent who is on the sideline this weekend of junior sport, or picking up kids after school, will be talking about how they get their young ones off the devices and kept safe. And one way they can do that is by engaging in activity like junior sport. That's one of the things we want to do to create healthy kids. Healthy kids, not just in terms of their physical health, but their mental health as well, is so important. And that's my government's objective. That's why we're having this trial going forward, to make sure that any measures which are undertaken are effective. Thanks very much.