Football Victoria extends its congratulations to The Hon Martin Pakula MP for his appointment as Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events.
Minister Pakula will also have responsibility for the Jobs, Innovation and Trade and Racing portfolios.
Football Victoria President, Kimon Taliadoros, said the governing body had enjoyed a mutually-productive relationship with the incumbent minister, The Hon John Eren, and the wider parliamentary Labor Party, and was looking forward to “building on that partnership with Minister Pakula over the coming months and years.”
“I’d like to offer my sincere thanks to Mr Eren, a passionate football person and someone who I’ve enjoyed working with immensely as the game seeks to capitalise on the tremendous opportunities ahead of it”, Mr Taliadoros said.
“As a sport that continues to enjoy strong growth across all ages, abilities and genders – one that plays a key role in fostering healthy, cohesive communities – we’ve valued the support of the State Labor Government in bringing a greater level of funding for football facilities across Victoria”.
Football Victoria CEO, Peter Filopoulos, said he looked forward to meeting with Minister Pakula to discuss the governing body’s State Facilities Strategy to 2026 which details a chronic shortage of football infrastructure in the face of increasing demand for the game.
“When we have, as we saw last season, 12,500 people across the state – boys and girls, women and men, and players of all abilities – turned away by football clubs, we know there’s a lot to do to enable the hundreds of thousands of Victorians – including a growing number of women and girls – to play the game they love”, he said.
Mr Filopoulos commended the State Labor Government for achieving gender-parity as part of its new-look Cabinet. “With the ever-increasing number of women and girls coming into football on and off the field, we understand the importance of gender-equity initiatives given our own Board has had 50% female representation for the past two years. It’s also why we’ve committed to targets like 50:50 male-to-female player participation ratios as a key longer-term priority”, Mr Filopoulos said.