Television interview with Minister Wells, ABC News Breakfast – 22 January 2025

Read the transcript from Minister Wells' interview on ABC News Breakfast which covered the Play Our Way fund and the Australian Open.

The Hon Anika Wells MP
Minister for Aged Care
Minister for Sport

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BRIDGET BRENNAN, ABC NEWS: Well, the Federal Government, along with Tennis Australia, have announced a boost in funding to help more women and girls get into tennis. Minister for Sport Anika Wells is with us. Good morning, Minister. Great to see you.

JAMES GLENDAY, ABC NEWS: Congratulations on being sworn in this week to cabinet.

ANIKA WELLS, MINISTER FOR AGED CARE AND MINISTER FOR SPORT: Thanks so much. I think since I've seen you both last, we've all been promoted. So congratulations to you two as well.

BRENNAN: We're now in cabinet too, which is very exciting. So we need more Ash Bartys in the sport, don't we?

WELLS: Don’t we? And Emerson Joneses, who- you know, we’re on the road to Brisbane 2032. So nearly a million dollars from the Albanese Government today to deliver more women and girls playing more sport, and more tennis specifically. So we know there's a huge drop off for girls when they hit their teens, they hit puberty, they stop playing sport. And they don't come back. And we also know when kids see their mums playing sport. That sets such a positive example. Good mental health benefits, good physical health benefits. So this is part of the $200 million Play Our Way fund that we announced out of the amazing Matildas’ Women's World Cup experience. And today, tennis will get almost a million dollars.

GLENDAY: A lot of people are watching the Australian Open at the moment, obviously, and people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, so I make no comment about how the Australian media has treated tennis stars. But what have you made of the interaction between tennis stars and Australian fans, and some of the controversies that have happened throughout this tournament so far?

WELLS: Well, it's been lively viewing, hasn't it? And I think we're all struggling this morning, we were up past midnight watching the Djokovic-Alcaraz match, and we've got our own Alex de Minaur on tonight up against Sinner, you know, number one in the world. And like you say, I anticipate the crowds will be lively and dynamic as we watch that match this evening. But I think even as people like Novak Djokovic have said himself, the Australian Open is famed for its passionate fans, and that's the experience that you get when you come to the AO.

GLENDAY: Do we need to be more respectful of some of the talent on display? Should people be more respectful of Novak Djokovic, for example, or maybe others who sort of engage with the crowd, at least on the court?

WELLS: I think Australians love their sport. As Sport Minister, we want to make sure that we're always looking after our athletes and that we're athlete led when we develop policy, setting a good example around treating our athletes with respect. You know, one of the side effects is that girls look at that treatment and decide they don't want to stay in sport or they don't want to give it a go because they don't want to have that experience themselves. So I think from a policy sense, we've always got to think more broadly about what impact that will be having, not just the players who are having that experience, but maybe the kids who are watching the example.

BRENNAN: So the intent of this money, is it to go to underserved communities…

WELLS: Yes.

BRENNAN: Because, you know, tennis can be seen as a bit of a rich kid's sport. You know, there are a lot of places in Australia that have no courts, have no coaches or programs. How exactly will the money be used?

WELLS: Yes. So what we asked was for people to pitch us: what are the barriers to women and girls playing sport in your neighbourhood, in your community? You tell us what you need. Is it lighting so that people can play at night? Because that gives them more court time for people who might be working during the day. Is it a bus, because it's a low socioeconomic area, people don't have their own cars. If the club has a bus, they can go around and pick kids up and get them involved or pick women or people from culturally and linguistically, diverse backgrounds. Is that the barrier? If we give you that, will that involve people more in sport?

So one of the things I love most about this is that there'll be 60 clubs who receive this money, and each of those clubs have pitched what would help women and girls in their area get involved.

BRENNAN: Sounds great.

GLENDAY: Some foreign fans, some foreign players have been booed on centre-court. The Australian Prime Minister is always booed, but Anthony Albanese didn't go to the cricket this year. Is he going to turn up to the tennis?

WELLS: I know what he's up to today and he's talking to Australian workers about what measures we're doing to improve their lives. And I know that he gets to speak to me regularly about, as sport minister, all of the sport that I get to watch in my role. I think it's a fine line, isn't it, because it's a proud Aussie tradition. You know, that's part of the job that you sign up to when you're people like myself. But also I think it's about modelling what our kids are watching or what- you know, new Australians are watching when they come.

GLENDAY: Is the PM avoiding big events like this because of his clifftop home purchase? Does he have a reputation he's got to restore? Is that why he's staying away from some of these events? Or has that been oversold and overplayed in the media?

WELLS: I think any single day the PM wakes up and has about 8007 different commitments that he's been asked to do…

GLENDAY: [Talks over] Fair.

WELLS: And on any single day, he's trying his best to think about what mandate he was given at the election and what people expect of the prime minister. And that's, I think, talking to Australian workers about what kind of future he'd offer in a second term.

BRENNAN: Let's quickly talk about the concern that Jewish Australians have, that anti-Semitic attacks are increasing in some of our major cities and around Australia. What shift can you promise to the Jewish community in how you're going to deal with this rise in attacks?

WELLS: I think what we've been trying to do this term is act rather than speak. I think you've already had Minister Clare on, haven't you, talking about $57 million that was in play a couple of weeks after 7 October. Quite a few pieces of legislation that bulk up the criminalisation of different hate crimes, the anti-doxxing stuff. I mean, I think as a government, we've really tried to walk the walk on this, but I completely accept with the convening of national cabinet yesterday, there's more to do, plenty more to do. And it's good to see sort of significant measures like convening of the national cabinet to progress that.

BRENNAN: Thanks, Minister. Good to see you. What match has been your favourite so far? Have you got a favourite?

WELLS: I mean, I'm really quite a Brisbane 2032 advocate, any of our Australian kids who are 14, 15 and are on the path where everything they do now best prepares them and all of us for a Brisbane 2032 experience. They’re special.

BRENNAN: [Talks over] [Laughs] Okay, watching those ball kids closely then.

WELLS: Yeah.

GLENDAY: Good to have a proud Queenslander on the show, and good to see millennials as well getting promoted up the ladder. We're always going to be supporting that here.

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