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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 2 Hansard (28 February) . . Page.. 418 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

effective training on their existing ground. I am advised that last year the numbers were up to about 240.

The Bureau of Sport and Recreation responded by looking at the club's request for three full-sized soccer fields, with two to be lit for training. They looked around the Deakin and Yarralumla area, and the only field which was suitable was Yarralumla oval. It is the only oval in the area with sufficient space and with no existing commitments to other sports.

I think Mr Corbell is well aware of the situation. He recently saw me in relation to assisting the Gungahlin Soccer Club with its training requirements. I am well aware of the requirements of the club. We are looking at putting up lights on the school oval and considering a few other options to cater for the legitimate needs of that soccer club in the north of Canberra-needs which, again, have been brought about because of the burgeoning increase in the number of junior players.

Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, it is very rare for me to receive objections to training lights. I think some concerns were expressed by several people in Downer back in 1997, and this is the only other occasion that I have ever heard of any concerns.

The installation of lights at Yarralumla oval will enable Canberra Deakin Club to provide much more effective training facilities for its junior teams to enable the players to progress through the ranks, hopefully to senior level.

As Mr Corbell indicated, the bureau followed all the usual processes required by Planning and Land Management in applying for approval to erect the lights at Yarralumla oval, and I think it is relevant to go through this. Similar installations have been carried out at over 30 grounds across the city-again, as I said, with virtually no complaints, except for one in Downer. Several of those other sites have lighting very close to housing, and this is a major reason why the design uses the 22-metre columns which allows lights to be focused down onto the playing surface, minimising spill.

Examples of other installations close to houses include ovals at locations such as Kingston, Hughes, Rivett and Waramanga playing fields. In the non-government area, the lights installed by the Ainslie Football Club at Ainslie oval-they are of match standard and are considerably brighter than normal training installations-closely adjoin housing. These match lights are also used for training.

The lights that we are talking about at Yarralumla oval are not match lights. They are specifically for training and are required to be turned off at 9 o'clock on weeknights and there is no use on weekends-a series of steps that have to be taken to ensure that any inconvenience to residents is minimised.

Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, I lived for nearly 15 years directly opposite Rivett oval and I remember the old lights that were used. I knew where the fuse box was and on occasions I would turn the lights off if people left them on. The spill from those old lights was not too good. The new lights were put up possibly by the former Labor government in the early 90s when I was still at Rivett and certainly they are much more efficient.

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