Matt Hewson
Geelong council has called for the community to get involved in reviewing its draft Fair Access Policy, which is now out for public consultation.
The draft policy seeks to increase and improve sporting and recreation opportunities for women, girls and diverse groups in the Geelong region through providing female-friendly sport infrastructure design, equitably allocating resources and boosting female representation in leadership and governance roles at sports clubs.
Councillor Elise Wilkinson, who seconded Eddy Kontelj’s motion to table the draft policy at the March council meeting, said council had “a lot of work to do”.
“I’ll note in a recent census, done in 2023, (it was found) only 30 per cent of the City of Greater Geelong’s community sports change rooms are gender neutral,” Cr Wilkinson said.
“This report contains six key policy principles… This is an important policy; this will really drive home and frame how we address the inequities within our city.”
Mayor Trent Sullivan said the policy would seek to improve the participation of women in sport.
“We know that rates of sporting participation are considerably higher for men than women, but we also know about the significant benefits of greater participation in sport for our community,” Mayor Sullivan said.
“This policy considers some of the underlying causes of the reduced participation of women and girls in sport, and identifies the steps we can take to make change.”
Cr Eddy Kontelj said it was important for the community to have their say on the draft policy.
“Local sporting clubs are the experts in what the issues and challenges are for their specific club,” Cr Kontelj said.
“Getting as much input from the community as possible will ensure we get this policy right so we can make real change in this space.
“By investing in women, we will accelerate positive progress.”
The policy’s process is on a short timeline, as the state government funding criteria for community sport infrastructure will require gender equitable access and use policies to be in place by July 1, 2024.
“We don’t really have a choice here; we need to develop this policy otherwise we’ll be delinquent in our responsibilities, not only to the community, but to our obligations to be continuously improving the City of Greater Geelong,” Cr Kontelj said.
Visit yoursay.geelongaustralia.com.au/draft-fair-access-policy to view and submit your thoughts on the draft Fair Access Policy before 5pm Tuesday, April 30.
