Greens' Senator for South Australia Sarah Hanson-Young has won Senate support for a motion calling on the ABC to maintain its broadcast of SANFL games.

The motion won support from all parties and was co-sponsored by Senators Penny Wright (Greens), Nick Xenophon (Independent), Anne McEwen (Labor) and Simon Birmingham (Liberal). See full text below.

Senator HANSON-YOUNG (South Australia) (11:57): I, and also on behalf of Senators Wright, McEwen, Birmingham and Xenophon, move:
That the Senate-
(a) notes:
(i) the future of the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is in doubt, and
(ii) the South Australian Football Association was established in 1877 (later to become the SANFL) making it the oldest football league of any code in Australia and one of the oldest sporting codes in the world;
(b) recognises the coverage:

The Senate

(a)   recognises:

(i)            the need for cultural change within some sporting organisations relating to problems including violence, and attitudes towards women; and

(ii)           the high regard in which professional sportspeople are held in this country, and the role model status that they hold for young Australians; 

(b)   calls on the Government to:

The Greens have received Senate support for their call for Government action on recent examples of serious behavioural transgressions in professional sport, including sexual misconduct, violence and aggression towards women.

Senator Hanson-Young, Greens spokesperson for Sport and the Status of Women, this morning moved a motion calling on the Federal Government to facilitate dialogue with representatives from all sporting codes and investigate a possible universal code of conduct, which the Senate supported.