Pat Cummins set for meeting with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in pursuit of $100m breakthrough

The Test captain is leading an initiative called Sport Forever and will address a summit at Parliament House on Monday night, where Cummins and other sporting representatives will lobby the Government for funding to help guard community clubs against the impacts of climate and cut costs in the process.

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen will also speak in front of 150 attendees at the summit, while Cummins and his Cricket for Climate CEO Joanne Bowen will hold a separate audience with Prime Minister Albanese earlier in the day to outline the crippling impacts extreme heat and incessant rain is having on sports across the country.

“(We want to stress) how important sport is to communities. They’re the central hubs and it’s becoming harder and harder to maintain these clubs,” Cummins told Code Sports ahead of his trip to Parliament House.

“Even in the last month (in NSW), the amount of community sport that’s been lost due to crazy rainfall really hammers home that point.

“We’ve got a wide range of initiatives that if we have the funding we’ll use towards. Some of them are reducing the costs of these clubs directly by cutting their energy bills.

“A lot of it is also about climate adaption. So, improving the fields so that in extreme weather events they’re not out of action for months on end, they can still play on the weekend – increasing shade and things like that to make the clubs more resilient.

“With that funding we’re going to hit 1000 community sport clubs. So that’s not only cricket but it’s AFL, soccer, netball, surf lifesaving, rugby, all sports that are important to all Australians, particularly in rural and regional areas that perhaps don’t get the attention or the funding and where it’s quite hard to play organised sport sometimes.”

Cummins’ local cricket club Penrith has saved $5000 a year on energy costs by switching to solar panels and battery four years ago – money which has been invested back into girls’ junior cricket programs – an initiative which has saved $7000-$10,000 a year for Dandenong cricket club in Victoria.

The Test captain has copped flak for being a climate warrior, but insists the Sport Forever bid for $100m of funding is a project anyone passionate about the health of community sport in Australia can get behind, regardless of their views on climate.

“I think one of the great things about this Sport Forever program is even if you’re not that way inclined this is about ensuring community clubs still survive and it’s putting money back in the pockets of these clubs to then spend on programs that they might not be able to normally spend on,” Cummins said.

“It’s just attacking the angle of ‘how do we keep community clubs going’ slightly differently and I think there’s so many win wins with this kind of model.

“With time you refine your thinking, and for me not much has changed. I’m really passionate in this (climate) space. But I always make sure whenever I speak about this I want to point to tangible differences and tangible action that we’re doing. I don’t like just talking about it for the sake of talking about it.

“I want to point to real change that we’ve made, real clubs where we’ve made a difference. I love telling those stories and that’s what I’m passionate about really, rather than just sitting around talking about it all day.

“It’s a huge project and will make a huge difference that will positively effect many, many, many communities.”

Cummins said there are so many examples of climate impacting community sport – from the tragic death of an Adelaide park cricketer who died playing in 41.7 degree heat back in March to the record rainfall in Sydney which has wiped out kids’ sport through August.

AFLW star Nicola Barr will also speak at Monday night’s Sport Forever summit which will be attended by government ministers, senators and representatives from cricket, AFL, rugby union, soccer and Olympic sports.

Cricket for Climate CEO Bowen said the organisation was “working constructively” with Minister Bowen over the proposal and she looked forward to an audience with Prime Minister Albanese.

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“Pat and I have had a few meetings with him (Minister Bowen),” Bowen said.

“He will have a speaking role on the evening.

“The intent of the event is to launch the campaign across a broader audience with the intention of accelerating some decisions around the 100 million dollars funding to support a program like this.”