The Nationals' David Littleproud interviewed on Sky News

LAURA JAYES

Joining me now is David Littleproud. He's The Nationals leader. What do you think? Are you going to be a bit Bob Hawke or no?

DAVID LITTLEPROUD

No. I'm Captain Killjoy on this one. I just think, unfortunately while we're all with the Matildas and what a night it was on Saturday night. I mean, my wife who is not into sport, I've seen a side of her I didn't see before ever. It brought the whole nation together, the whole nation out. I think we're going to continue to support the Matildas all the way through Wednesday night, then hopefully, through to Saturday night. But, you know, someone's got to ultimately pay for this. It's all well and good for Premiers and Prime Ministers to promise public holidays, but ultimately someone foots the bill.

And that, in this case, is small business. And if you go back to when the Queen died, Shane Oliver from AMP did analysis and said it cost around $9 billion for that day that we had off then.

So ultimately there is a big cost. When the government's proposing not to have it on the Monday after, but a week later, how do we all share in that? Why didn't we have one after the Diamonds won? I mean, our girls, rocked the world in netball, less than a week ago. There's no public holiday for them. And I think that's their 12th World Cup. So you know, we're all with this and Matilda mania has taken off. I'm all for it. And I've got to say my, I didn't sleep Saturday night, even though the game was over by 9.30.

Because my blood pressure was that high. It’s just coming down, how those girls got through that penalty shootout is just beyond me. There is the ecstasy, but the cruelty of soccer is just laid bare. But, you know, the professionalism of these girls, how they had steel in their veins and just walked up and just kept going and got through, I think what's the longest penalty shootout in our nation's, in the world's history, of world soccer, World Cup soccer is just amazing. Shows how good our girls are. Let's invest money into getting, you know, professional women's sport paid what they should be rather than taking a holiday, is my thoughts.

LAURA JAYES

Yeah, right. Okay. I get that that you don't support a public holiday for all the reasons you've outlined. And look, I do kind of think it would be weird a week later, but I don't want to kill this vibe that we are feeling around the country at the moment. But you've raised the issue of funding for women's sport. Have you looked at the figures here when it comes to soccer for women in Australia? Do you have an estimate of how underfunded it is?

DAVID LITTLEPROUD

Yeah, well, just look at what's been bought in this country for the Women's World Cup. It's about $7 billion has been bought into the country, about $4.35 billion of that has been from overseas. But I think what this shows is that women's sport is now getting the eyeballs. And this is where administrators, it's not necessarily just government, have to put in money. I think government's responsibilities at grassroots, making sure, you know, families can afford to be able to get their kids into playing sport. It's at the elite end where I think now the administrators of these sports need to make sure that the money isn't just funnelled into paying the high wages of the men, but actually they have a real product, a world leading product that I think administrators need to look at.

And I think we all need to look at it and say, well, I think that the cut of the pie, because most of the pie comes from the media rights that they get, the TV rights that they get, is that I think there should be some squaring up of that and that we shouldn't see, you know, A League, women that are on about $22,000 a year, when this has been a bonanza for much of Australia and much of the soccer fraternity.

So I think cricket guys have won a World Cup. And now we're finally starting to see the women being able to have a women's IPL, I think professional women's sport, no matter the sport, is evolving. And I think it's not just the sporting fraternity, the broadcasters or government's roles at grassroots. And I think all the way through this is a big rethink. And I think, the women's cricket, the women's netball who are all world champions have laid the foundation stones. And now I think the Matildas have just broken that ceiling, where I think there needs to be a big hard look at this.

LAURA JAYES

Yeah, absolutely. I'm sure. I wonder if the AFL regrets not giving up the MCG or some of that real estate for this world Cup. I'm sure they don't, but, it’s certainly rival.

DAVID LITTLEPROUD

Well, I mean, instead of a holiday. I mean, that's, that's really what the MCG and AFL should be having a look at. If we make the final next Saturday, why shouldn't we look at trying to pack 110,000 Australians into a stadium like the MCG? We'll pack it. We packed it for the Women's Cricket World Cup. Just remember, why wouldn't we pack it for this, if the Matildas made the grand final? I think there should be serious conversations with the AFL and everyone else, saying, this is the biggest spectacle on Earth next Saturday.

And if Australians are in it, it will just go off. You will never see a bigger sporting event anywhere in the world. Even for soccer. So there's a big challenge, I think, where we should be focusing our energy on rather than public holidays.

LAURA JAYES

Alright. Okay. I'm convinced. I'm convinced by your argument. I'll put it that way. Before I let you go, something that has been raised in the Voice debate is Welcome to Country. Jacinta Price has been the latest to weigh in this morning saying they've become too much and they're becoming divisive. What do you think?

DAVID LITTLEPROUD

Oh, I think there's a place for it on special occasions, but I think it's probably gone a little too far and it's overuse and I think that can lose its currency. I mean, when you go to business meetings and there's a Welcome to Country, I think there's an opportunity for it to be used wisely, to get to the intent that it was created for. But when it's overused, it loses its currency. And I think that's where the conversation needs to be. But I think that's one that we can maturely have as a nation down the track.

But I think the biggest question that Australians face is the Referendum that they'll be asked, to vote on in the next couple of months. I think that's the main game that people need to be focused on because changing your Constitution is a lot more significant than a ceremonial start to an event.

LAURA JAYES

David Littleproud. Thanks so much for your time today. Appreciate it.