PRIME MINISTER: We are meeting on Ngunnawal land and we acknowledge their long custodianship of this land and their elders past and present.
I am delighted to be here, thrilled to be here to celebrate women’s football in Australia.
So many I want to acknowledge - Steven Lowy, Chairman of Football Federation Australia, David Gallop, Chief Executive, Greg Hunt, the Minister for Sport, Michaelia Cash, the Minister for Women and all of my Parliamentary colleagues – is Bill here? I can’t see Bill, he’s on his way I’m sure.
And above all of course, the present and future Matildas - Clare Polkinghorne, Kyah Simon and Michelle Heyman welcome.
And it is wonderful to have the next generation with us - the Young Matildas and the ALDI MiniRoos as well.
We celebrate the achievements of our current and future football stars.
The Matildas are leaders on the international stage and they are wonderful role models in our community.
Last year, all Australians got behind the Matildas in their thrilling campaign at the Rio Olympics.
And wouldn’t it be fantastic to have the Matildas contesting a Women’s World Cup on home soil here in Australia?
It is a great initiative, it is a great goal and I’m excited to announce that the Government will be backing the FFA’s bid for Australia to host the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
This bid will help us increase the exposure of women’s football in Australia. It will raise its profile even more.
And it’s even more special for a proud sporting nation such as ours.
We are recognised internationally for our sporting achievements and for showcasing some of the biggest sporting events in the world and when we do, we do it triumphantly, we do it successfully, we do it to great acclaim. We set the bar to the highest level in hosting great global sporting events.
The 2023 edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup will bring together 24 nations, and it will reach a global audience, its estimated, of over 700 million people.
Now the opportunity to host this event is significant, not just for the economic and tourism benefits it would bring, but for what it does for women’s sport.
That is the great power of sport - it is those moments that motivate us, that unite us, that enthral us and bring out the best in us. That inspire us all, old and young alike.
Inspiration, dedication, commitment, teamwork, loyalty; these are all the qualities we see in sport. Like Kyah Simon here today, who became the first Indigenous Australian player to score a goal in a FIFA World Cup, in 2011. What an inspiration.
A Women’s World Cup hosted in our backyard would inspire a new generation of women and girls right across Australia. It continues our Government’s commitment to promote female participation in sport from the grassroots level, from the little ones, right up to the elite level, the Matildas.
So today, we celebrate the achievements of our women’s football stars and we kick off the campaign for Australia to host the 2023 Women's World Cup.
Thank you very much for all your support.