Portfolio — 17 July 2026

The Minister for Communications and Minister for Sport, Ms Wells, launched "Pitch In", an eight-part podcast series spotlighting volunteers in community sport, with a particular focus on regional, remote and culturally diverse communities [TA-260716-infras-f4fb0b1f9ff2]. The series was produced in partnership with the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia and is hosted by comedian Anthony "Lehmo" Lehmann.

It is now available on major podcast platforms and will be distributed across 450 community broadcasters nationwide. The Minister framed the initiative explicitly against the National Sport Strategy, Sport Horizon, which centres community connection, inclusion and belonging as participation objectives [TA-260716-infras-f4fb0b1f9ff2]. In doing so, she drew both her portfolios into a single narrative: community broadcasters as the vehicle for telling local sporting stories, and community sport as the social infrastructure those stories celebrate.

The Minister's public statements positioned the series as more than a content initiative — she described community sport as "one of the strongest ways we build connection and community across Australia" and community broadcasters as uniquely placed to "tell local stories like these, connecting with local audiences across the country." The dual-portfolio framing is deliberate: the podcast functions simultaneously as a sport participation instrument under Sport Horizon and as a demonstration of community broadcasting's local-content reach.