Newcastle Knights Rugby League Football Team
NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS RUGBY LEAGUE FOOTBALL TEAM
Mr MILLS (Wallsend) [5.56]: I raise a matter of importance to many of my constituents, that is, the impact on the Hunter region of the Federal Court decision regarding the Australian Rugby League versus Super League dispute. I broadly endorse the remarks of my colleague the honourable member for Keira who spoke of the potential harm to the game from this schism in rugby league. I have spoken in this House previously in support of the Newcastle Knights. The Newcastle Knights signed up with the ARL last week. It was a clean and quick decision and was to the great relief of the very big following of rugby league supporters in the Hunter. I also note that the Hunter Mariners, the Super League team for our region, have stepped up their preparation and public profile for the Super League competition next year.
The Newcastle Knights have been good for the Hunter since their entry into the former Sydney rugby league competition in 1988. Not only have they been good for sport and top entertainment for people in the Hunter region, they have also become the focus for regional pride and regional loyalty. For example, Paul Harragon led the Mattara Parade in Newcastle during the weekend. The Optus financial
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support package has enabled local heroes, such as the international Paul Harragon, the two Johns brothers, Adam Muir and Robbie O'Davis to stay in Newcastle with the Knights next year. The Newcastle Knights club was certainly debt-free 18 months ago before the announcement of Super League. Since then, as is well known, it has been a financial struggle for the Knights and for quite a number of other clubs in the rugby league football competition.
Rugby league fans in the Hunter have stayed loyal to the Newcastle Knights; attendance figures have shown that since the beginning. Even last year attendance figures were still well up and probably second only to Brisbane in terms of local crowd support. I expect that that loyalty will continue next year. In an article in the Newcastle Herald last Saturday the chief sports writer, Stewart Roach, wrote that the Knights had a special hold on people in the Hunter. That is what happened. I suppose time will tell if the Hunter Valley is big enough in terms of spectator following and sponsorship dollars for both the Newcastle Knights in the Australian Rugby League competition and the Hunter Mariners in the Super League competition. The General Manager of the Newcastle Knights, Ian Bonnette, said it all on the day after the court decision when he stated:
This is outside rugby league. It is business and pay-TV.
If something is agreed at high levels it will come down the line.
I would be urging all parties at high levels to compromise and for some commonsense to prevail.
I thought that last weekend's offer by the Minister for Sport and Recreation to mediate between the ARL and Super League, through the offices of the former Premier, Neville Wran, was a particularly good offer and I am delighted that the Minister has taken a few minutes to restate that offer in the House today. I recall that it took three years to restore a unified competition to cricket 18 years ago. I hope that for the sake of rugby league, which is a great game, this issue is resolved much faster than that. The Minister's offer deserves careful consideration and I hope that the offer of mediation will be successful. Constituents of mine have raised issues about the league wars. Given the opinion and the decision of three Federal Court judges on the Super League appeal, how could a judge as experienced as Justice Burchett apparently have got it so wrong that the three overturned virtually all of his decisions? All of the judges were interpreting the same laws on contracts and business.
The only response I could give is, "Only a lawyer could answer that." That raises the idea that non-lawyers should be given a hand in drafting complex legislation so that the law is more succinct and clear. Secondly, when an outsider with a bucket of money can buy up a whole sport from its collective organisations to suit his or her entertainment objectives, what is to stop the same thing from happening to political parties, or even to the whole of Parliament? In a banana republic there might be a military coup but in this place we could have a company coup. One could envisage Optus and Channel 9 taking over the Legislative Assembly, the House of the people, and News Limited taking over the Legislative Council. [Time expired.]
Mr AQUILINA (Riverstone - Minister for Education and Training, and Minister Assisting the Premier on Youth Affairs) [6.01]: I congratulate the honourable member for Wallsend on his impassioned speech on behalf of the Newcastle Knights. This evening the House has heard two impassioned speeches on behalf of rugby league, one presented by the honourable member for Keira on behalf of the Steelers and the other by the honourable member for Wallsend on behalf of the Newcastle Knights. Both honourable members put forward a plea not so much for their individual teams but for the game of rugby league.
I speak not as someone who has a direct involvement with any club but as a father of two sons who have an avid interest in the game. For young children who look up to their rugby league heroes and to the game itself it is not a good thing to have this kind of controversy. It is not good for sport generally, either. Young children love their heroes and they love their games; they do not want controversy, they want to see sport for the sake of sport. It is important that the controversy be resolved as quickly as possible for the benefit of young Australians, particularly those who love the game of rugby league, and for the benefit of rugby league itself. I also congratulate the Minister for Sport and Recreation on her mediation offer, which warrants careful consideration. Certainly there could be none better than the Hon. Neville Wran to undertake such mediation. The Government sincerely hopes that there will be an earnest response to the offer.