Mildura Council gains recognition for its gender equity in sport program

Mildura Rural City Council has secured a 2025 LGPro Award for Excellence for its delivery of the Victorian Government-funded ‘Gendering in a New Era In Mildura Sports’ program between 2022 to 2025.

Council was the winner in the Diversity and Inclusion category for the program that made significant strides to improve gender equity in sporting clubs throughout the region.

The state-funded program aims to empower sporting clubs to create safe and inclusive environments for women and gender-diverse individuals, combining education, training and auditing tools to identify gaps in sporting clubs and implement strategies to address them.

Councillor for Community Development and Gender Equity Katie Clements said Council’s delivery of the program drew in a large number of Sunraysia sporting clubs.

Clements noted “with so many local residents involved, our region’s sporting clubs are in a strong position to help drive greater gender equity in the community.

“Through the many Sunraysia sporting clubs which participated in the program, more than 300 members took part in education and training, 500 shared their experiences through club member surveys and 800 participated in training and awareness campaigns.

“These clubs now have stronger policies and cultures to better include and protect women, children, LGBTQIA+ people, Aboriginal communities, people with disabilities and those from diverse cultural backgrounds.

“I’d like to congratulate all the local sporting clubs that embraced the program which resulted in real cultural change within their clubs and improved governance.

“The additional benefit of this program is that the education and information members receive then flows out into our broader community through members’ own personal networks. I encourage all of the local sporting clubs who have not yet planned to engage in the program to have a conversation about how it would benefit their members.”

Some of the changes resulting from clubs’ participation included:

• More equitable distribution of club resources for equipment, uniforms, facility improvements and player payments

• Retrospective recognition of women’s achievements.

• More family-friendly facilities

• Bystander intervention training addressing gender-based violence.

The Gendering in a New Era In Mildura Sports program was delivered by Council’s Recreation Planning and Development Team.

Imperial Football and Netball Club president Dale Stafford said the program was enormously beneficial for their club adding “The education and change of culture is not just about the immediate players but also for those who have been around the club for 50 years.

“The program opens your thinking to everything from a change in language, or how we go about organising functions to ensure they are representative of both females and males and that we are always communicating to both genders.

“It’s about ensuring equality in any development or projects that we are doing. An example is that we are now investing heavily in digital honour boards, so that our honour boards can now have representation of all our netball award winners dating back to the beginning of the SFNL.”

Clubs that have participated in the program

Clubs that have completed Gender Equity training, a club audit to create an action plan to document changes and have continued ongoing engagement in the program; 

• Imperial Football Netball Club

• Meringur Football Netball Club

• Merbein Cricket Club

• Ouyen Rams Cricket Club

• Nichols Point Soccer Club

• Sacred Heart & St Andrews Tennis club

• Sunraysia Hockey Association

• Koowinda Hockey Club

• Waratahs Hockey Club

• Ouyen Bowls Club

Two new clubs have recently joined the program and have completed gender equity training and have started completing their audit:

• Mallee Bandits Baseball Club

• Red Cliffs Football Netball Club

These clubs or associations have completed MRCC’s Respect in Sporting Clubs workshop in response to identified needs:

Whole club training completed with:

• South Mildura Sporting Club

• Softball Sunraysia

The LGPro Awards for Excellence promote and celebrate the outstanding work being undertaken and delivered by individuals and teams working in Local Government in Victoria.

The Awards span 15 award categories, including:

• First Nations Community Partnership

• Community Assets & Infrastructure Initiative (projects under $5m)

• Community Assets & Infrastructure Initiative (projects $5m-$20m with a population of under 50,000)

• Community Assets & Infrastructure Initiative (projects $5m-$20m with a population of over 50,000)

• Community Assets & Infrastructure Initiative (over $20m)

• Community Partnerships

• Digital and Technology

• Disaster Readiness and Recovery

• Diversity and Inclusion

• Environmental Sustainability

• Innovative Leadership (previously Innovative Management)

• Service Delivery

• Special Projects

• Outstanding Small Rural Council Initiative

• Young Achiever