MINISTER FOR SPORT, ANIKA WELLS:
Hello all…. Thanks for joining us.
And please welcome our Labor candidate for Brisbane, Madonna Jarrett, here with us today.
Thank you to Dementia Australia and thank you to The King, Wally Lewis… who has been so brave in speaking up on an issue taboo for too long.
Just metres away from us… Wally Lewis dominated for club, state and country.
That prized turf has witnessed the best of sport and the best of Wally across 20 Origins in the famed venue.
We all marvelled as the King made the cauldron his throne.
But 40 years ago we didn't realise the risks of contact sport and how to mitigate them.
And Wally has spoken of his fear as he lives with Probable Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or CTE and his wish for more people who love sport to be educated about safety.
So today the Albanese Government is proud to announce $12.5 million in funding to support people living with probable CTE.
The $12.5 million in funding will be provided to Dementia Australia, to develop and deliver a national pilot program of support services for people impacted by CTE, and a national awareness and education program in schools.
And we are privileged to have The King involved in that Dementia Australia campaign.
Sport plays a critical role in Australian life but we know concussion and sports-related head injuries impact young people more than any other age group.
In Australia in 2021-22, around 1,600 people between the ages of five and 24 were hospitalised with sports-related concussion.
This is not about stopping kids from playing contact sport – it’s about participating more safely.
And I love how Wally described this issue in his Press Club address when he said… "I love my sport and I wouldn’t change a thing, but we do need to provide hope for the future.”
I can't be clear enough, we want more people playing sport and one of the best ways to actually reduce dementia risk is physical activity.
JOURNALIST: Can you just run us a little bit more through what the education and awareness campaign and support programs look like is you know, is that things for kids like wearing head gear, coming off the field, if they get a head knock, that kind of thing?
DEMENTIA AUSTRALIA CEO, TANYA BUCHANAN: Sure; so, I’ll deal with the support programs. The support programs are essentially group support programs for people who are impacted by probable CTE, and that's as it sounds.
In terms of the campaign and the awareness campaign, we're going to be working with a range of stakeholders to really look at what the best messaging is there, but it's exactly about, as the Minister said—we want to see children playing sport; we want to see them participating safely—and so we're going to be, you know, looking at all the ways we can deliver that message to school aged children across the country, and with as many partners as possible.
JOURNALIST: I understand you guys had initially petitioned for $18 million dollars, are you still advocating to get that extra money?
TANYA BUCHANAN: This is a great start for this campaign. We're really looking forward to getting the pilot in and having a good look at the evaluation. I think it is fair to say that Dementia Australia is advocating very strongly for an ongoing investment in a national discussion around brain health, and that's something that we'll continue to prosecute. So, as long as it takes until all Australians understand that there are things we can do to reduce our risk of dementia, and that there are ways we can tackle dementia in a way that reduces the stigma and the discrimination that Wally just spoke about. People working with dementia tell us that they feel discriminated against, they feel isolated, they feel embarrassed, and that's not okay. We need to tackle that discrimination.
JOURNALIST: Is this the first time we've seen an investment of this kind in CTE?
TANYA BUCHANAN: It is the first time to my knowledge, that we've seen an investment in brain health discussions like this, and particularly CTE.
JOURNALIST: How are we measuring the pilots, how long are you evaluating for…
TANYA BUCHANAN: Yeah, so the program is funded for two years, and the evaluation protocol will be built in upfront and agreed with the Government and other partners as we proceed,
So, we want to see that people who are impacted by CTE tell us that they felt that they got the support they need. We know from Dementia Australia's current services that we deliver to people who are living with all forms of dementia, that well over 90% of people who contact us tell us that the support they received really helped them to navigate their condition. And so, we wanted to see the same thing there with people who are living and impacted by CTE. And in terms of the awareness program, what we would like to see is that young people understand how they can protect their brain health and how they can participate in physical activity in a way that is really safe because, as the Minister said, we really do need to ensure that all Australians are participating in physical activity, because that is one of those factors called developing dementia.
JOURNALIST: Are you quite confident that you could almost eradicate a condition like this with better education and awareness?
TANYA BUCHANAN: Oh, that would be a great outcome. I don't think we'll do it in the next two years, but certainly we need to have a conversation around risk factors for dementia more broadly, because we know from last year, the Lancet Commission released their report into dementia prevention, and worldwide identified 14 modifiable risk factors that could reduce the incidence of dementia by 45% and with dementia coming so close to being Australia's leading cause of death, we need to take action right now and address those risk factors to reduce the incidence of dementia into the future.
JOURNALIST: Are you seeing the language around these injuries change? Do you look at say broadcasts of sport and things like that? For many years, a player going back to the flow of the ball and shaking off a head knock was called brave. Are you seeing that kind of change? Are you seeing that first-hand?
TANYA BUCHANAN: Well, I think that might be a question for Wally. Would you like me to answer that? Or would you like would you like to throw to Wally?
RUGBY LEAGUE IMMORTAL WALLY LEWIS: It certainly is, and I think it's exactly what the NRL and other sports would like to try and achieve, is that the players out there display just blatant honesty when they come involved in a head knock situation. I think they all realise that we'd like to be judged at the end of our career is the big, tough footballers that never gave up throughout the course of a game, but the honesty is that they'd be much better off physically, mentally, if they were just volunteering the honest truth to exactly what the injury was that they just took part in. I've seen on numerous occasions players get up, fall to the ground, get up, fall to the ground, not able to keep the balance out there on the football field. That used to be judged once upon a time as a wonderful display from a tough footy player. That's not common sense in the current day terms. Certainly, the doctors have got together and the way that the particular bodies of sport have now insisted that that honesty be displayed out the football field.
JOURNALIST: Tell us what it was like when you go the call this funding was coming through?
WALLY LEWIS: Fantastic. I think everybody realises that a number of players would like to be able to get the assistance, and there was an immediate judgment made on how much it was, and my answer to that was “we're getting support!”. That's fantastic. This is the start. It will have a snowball effect, and I'm certain that once the honesty comes out in how many players are actually battling and struggling to continue their career, it will be judged that any support is great support.
JOURNALIST: Can you walk us through the day-to-day impact you see here on you Wally and how you think that support program can help people like yourself?
WALLY LEWIS: Well, I think the easiest way to describe it is just to give up the stories about how I go into conversations in everyday life. I'll come in to go to work—I'm working basically here, at Suncorp Stadium, just across the road from—and everyday conversations for me have become a bit of an embarrassment. It's brought forward as being something that's almost comical now, and I think that for me, is a real pressure release. But the honest truth is that I've also taken on some assessments where I want to be able to get over it, want to be able to control my everyday life, and certainly the memory plays an enormous role in that each and every day of the year.
ANIKA WELLS: I remember very clearly giving a call to Wally with the news. As a born and bred Queenslander who bleeds maroon, it’s not very often you get to call the king and say, for the service that you've given our state, we're giving you back some support for you and people like you.
JOURNALIST: The Reserve Bank Governor has sent strong jobs growth, could derail this inflation. Is the Government’s expansion of the public service to blame?
ANIKA WELLS: Look, you know, I'm switching to the aged care minister. There are chronic workforce shortages in places like the care economy, like in aged care. Anyone who has any experience with aged care, be it residential or home care, will say that there's not enough people working in it. And measures like our $15 billion dollar pay rise for aged care workers, which went to 250,000, actually more now, workers across the country. Some of the lowest paid people doing the most important work. I don't think anyone would argue that that was a really important measure. We need both to lift the quality of aged care in this country and help out some of our lowest paid people doing work so they could actually afford to continue to do the jobs that they love.
JOURNALIST: The RBA Governor has also been cautious about the possibility of another rate cut. But do you think families do need one?
ANIKA WELLS: Look, far be it for me to comment on the independent Reserve Bank or what they may or may not do in coming months. I would say being out and about in my electorate on the north side of Brisbane this week, the cut has meant that households in the north side are more than $90 dollars—upwards of $90 dollars—better off a month now as a result of that, and that is much needed relief. People are truly grateful that that relief is coming through, as well as things like the energy bill rebates and stuff that they've seen in past quarters. Obviously there’s more to do, and as the Federal Government we’ll continue to keep pulling the levers that are available to us.
JOURNALIST: When you talk to families though are they telling you that they need?
ANIKA WELLS: When I talk to families in mobile offices and that kind of thing, the overwhelming thing coming through is people need high quality services—it's about service delivery. And I think that's, you know, in a cost-of-living crisis where your budgets as tight as it can possibly get, you rely on things like My Aged Care or Medicare more than ever before. You don't have spare cash to go and, you know, pay your way out of a problem, you rely on really good, high quality government public services. So that's what I get most of the time. They want to make sure that Medicare is being strengthened. That we are doing more to get more bulk billing doctors into the north side. That you can go and just use your Medicare card when your kid’s sick. So, the urgent care clinic in Kedron has been a really welcome development for the north side, because we're seeing some of the highest rates through in the country at Kedron, because that need is really there.
JOURNALIST: Can I ask you about Brisbane 2032?
ANIKA WELLS: Sure.
JOURNALIST: There's so many wonderful sports in our country that would love to be added to the Olympics,
ANIKA WELLS: Yes.
JOURNALIST: How do they go about that? How do they lobby to get themselves in consideration?
ANIKA WELLS: Let me reassure you, they are lobbying and have been lobbying for some time and we welcome further lobbying efforts. I think that last update from the OCOG where I sit as Vice President on behalf of the federal government, the decision will be made in, I think it was meant to be made this year but it's been pushed to next year as a result of the IOC coming out and IOC elections in May. There's a lot happening in 2025 and they decided to move that decision to 2026, my advice for sports and… it's my number one favourite question to ask school kids when I go to schools is what sport should we add for 2032? It needs to have gender equity, it needs to have representation from both male and females. That's probably the number one limited just when we're like netball, just probably the number one request I get in. There's a number of other considerations that go into it, like the 10,500 athlete cap that any games has to uphold.
So when you add something like, for example, were we to add cricket, because it's getting trial in LA 2028, where we did add it to the program permanently in 2032, obviously a team of cricketers has a huge impact on the 10,500 athlete cap, so that might have flow effects and that means when you put it up against hypothetically surf lifesaving, where you compete as an individual. So all that gets balanced out and gets considered through a decision making process through the Brisbane 2032 Organisers.
JOURNALIST: Surf lifesaving is such an iconic Australian sport, iconic images running down the beach, would they be a consideration?
Certainly they would be in consideration. The participation from both male and female athletes in surf lifesaving, some of the best beaches in the world from Cairns down to the Coolangatta so I certainly think it's a really promising area, but I am but one voice in the decision making body and that decision making body will not deliberate until 2026.
JOURNALIST: One sport, softball, they are very concerned about their lobbying getting lost in a sea of sports who are trying to get in and they won multiple medals and consider themselves to a major sport, how do they go about getting a above the pack?
ANIKA WELLS: I think that’s an astute observation, but it’s a problem for all sports who desperately want to see themselves in Brisbane 2032. So certainly it's a question of presenting the case, but doing whatever you can within your own sport to be able to say, yes, we have equal participation, yes, we capture the cultural identity of the nation, yes, this is sport that shares the values of where Brisbane 2032 wants to go. Certainly we work through the Office for Sport and also through the Queensland Government, through the IOC, through the Australian Olympic Committee, to help sports put their best case forward. The consideration ultimately comes down to not just Brisbane OCOG but the IOC as well.
JOURNALIST: I’m sure you would have seen the CCC report on Jackie Trad, political allegiances aside, does that kind of behaviour warrant a further inquiry.
ANIKA WELLS: I am pleased to tell you that I do not spend my day watching the State Parliament. I'm flat out watching the federal Parliament when Parl sits because we go back to back in there, so I haven't actually seen it and I've think that is entirely a question for the many parliamentarians who work a few ks away.
JOURNALIST: I want to jump back to sport.
ANIKA WELLS: Yes!
JOURNALIST: Is flag football one that’s a good possibility, given we have the international player pathway programs on the Gold Coast with the NFL?
ANIKA WELLS: The NFL will love you asking this question. Look, flag football is one of the sports that we have funded through Sporting Schools, which is a program that I, as Federal Minister for Sport, have carriage of and the Australian government funds. It is one of the new sports we've put through the back-end of last year, first-half of this year, because it is an LA 2028 sport, and for us, you know as NRL enthusiasts, and hopefully across quite a few codes, we would have so many kids who would be identified as possibly being able to play the sport for our country. So, we wanted to make sure that we had that opportunity for all kids to go through their sport and play flag football. To the broader point of your question, I guess there's always sort of pressure about sports that are tested in particular Olympics. So, for example, the Paris 2024 sports that were tested there but then don't go on to 2028. What comes back, what doesn't. What goes to ‘28 and gets rolled across to 2032, so those deliberations I can only say are live.
JOURNALIST: Today’s announcement? More funding is wanted from Dementia Australia for their program, why not the full amount?
ANIKA WELLS: Because there are just infinite worthy requests that come in, and we can only fund, you know, as many as we can responsibly across the budget, and I know that the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, was thrilled to be able to make space for this one. And like Tanya said, it's a pilot; we always go on data-based evidence. If it’s successful, you know, of course we will continue to roll out.