Scrap all funding promised for Women’s Sport announced these past 10 days (keep reading)

Australia, give yourself a big pat on the back.

The FIFA Women’s World Cup (WWC) is done and dusted and by any measure it has been the most successful WWC ever.

 Record crowds, ticket sales, sponsorships, TV ratings, social media engagement, media content, everything has exceeded all that has gone before it. Well done Australia (and New Zealand)

 And what about our Matildas, the Australian Women’s Football Team? They have gone deeper in to the tournament than ever before, become household names and conducted themselves with absolute professionalism as fierce competitors on the field and with esteem and respect off the field.

Males, Females and Neutrals are wearing Matilda merchandise, proudly and with no regard to gender. Boys are asking what the boy version of a Matilda is called.

Not surprisingly, our retrospectively opportunistic politicians are clamoring to board the high floating ship.

Cash strapped Governments are pledging funds for female sports. $50 million here, $100 million there. Ministers, opposition front benchers and local members alike have suddenly become aware of the inadequacy of playing facilities and changing rooms.

 It is like they have all just realised girls and women are not all that inclined to use a urinal. (A typical sporting club changing rooms will have a urinal and 2, maybe 3 cubicles, more than adequate for most male teams).

 In the rush to be popular, the Federal Government and Opposition have made various promises to fund a variety of activities and infrastructure for Women’s sport.

My concern is we will suffer the fate of lots of hot air involving many words, too many speeches, promises and associated photo opportunities and as the front pages are filled with the next big thing, nothing will happen.

I propose the Federal Government and Opposition do the following:

• Jointly announce all promises and commitments made in the wake of the WWC are withdrawn
• Announce a bipartisan equal representation committee with each Leader alternating as Chair. This committee will determine where funds are most needed and instruct the Department of Sport to allocate project priorities. The committee has no authority to change the allocation of projects
• The Federal Government and Opposition will commit to a level of funding in the next budget and for this to be an annual amount for 15 years indexed to inflation. This means even when the colour of the Government changes, funding does not.

I understand mine is a very broad brushed proposal lacking in detail.

I also understand that when one side of politics want to discredit the other the first line of attack is “we need more detail.”

But let us be bigger than that and look at the concept here.

For the past 16 years, our leaders across all parties have been unable to work together to deliver stability. Business has been screaming with frustration for a clear concise energy policy. The farming fraternity has been wanting a clear, consistent water and climate policy and industry in general wants stable and consistent tax and employment policies.

The FIFA Women’s World Cup has united a nation.

What if its bigger and more important legacy in Australia was providing the catalyst to return to some consistent policy initiatives, securely funded and prioritised for the good of the community and not for the short term goal of a politician standing for election or re-election.

And what if this were to be a new standard for doing what is best for Australia each time on every issue?

What is there to lose?