Shadow Minister for Sport and Recreation James Milligan is calling on the ACT Government to support the Women’s World Cup Soccer campaign by setting up a big screen in the city for Canberrans to watch and enjoy the Australia games.

Mr Milligan said it is the least the ACT government can do following the decision by the Chief Minister to not bid on any games to be held in the nation’s capital.

“The Canberra Liberals advocated strongly for the ACT to host world cup games which would have been an important investment in women’s sport and for the city,” Mr Milligan said.

“It is disappointing that the Chief Minister decided not to bring any games to the ACT but many members of the community that I speak with especially at grassroots level are wanting to support our fantastic Matildas.

“Providing a space and a big screen for members of the community to gather and cheer on the Matildas would be a great way for Canberra to show our support.

Mr Milligan said the ACT Government should put on an event for the three Australian group games and any subsequent knockout games with options for people to buy food and drinks.

“We saw recently with the Mens World Cup a large number of Canberrans converge on Civic Square to watch Australia play Argentina,” Mr Milligan said.

“Canberrans love our sport and we should be doing all we can to support our women as they take on the world in the upcoming World Cup,” Mr Milligan concluded.

The Matildas begin their campaign against Ireland on Thursday 20 July at 8pm before taking on Nigeria on Thursday 27 July and Canada Sunday 31 July.