Page 2913 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 29 June 2011
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DR BOURKE: You did not know that? I can tell you some more. Let me go on. The senior team has been in 10 of the last 12 grand finals and has won four of the last eight premierships. Pretty successful, I would say. The reserves have finished in the top three every year for the last 11 years. Not only are these adult teams very successful; they have an under-18 team which has played in the finals six times in the last 11 years and a women’s team which has also played in six finals. And not only that: they have eight junior teams, which are based at Holt. Aussie Rules is a great game; I am very proud to be a keen supporter of it. Once again, I congratulate the minister on this wonderful initiative.
MR DOSZPOT (Brindabella) (9.10): I want to speak still on part 1.6, Economic Development Directorate, sport and recreation. With the new arrangements for departmental responsibility, I suspect that sport and recreation has become Minister Barr’s forgotten child, his neglected child. I am sure that it is only because the minister has new, more pressing matters of state as Deputy Chief Minister, and not because he has little interest in the subject, that he has taken so long to answer questions from the estimates hearings.
Last year I described the sport and recreation portfolio in the lead-up to the budget as having a somewhat schizophrenic personality. I talked about the frustration of clubs and junior and senior sports associations such as football, AFL, Rugby Union, Rugby League, hockey, cricket, athletics, softball, baseball, netball, basketball, tennis and volleyball, with a combined representation of approximately 95,000 Canberrans. I stress again, minister, the frustrations of many of these grassroots associations at not having sufficient fields or courts to play on.
Community sports facilities are running at capacity and are stretched to meet demand. Inadequacy of available grounds is nothing new; it has been a feature of Labor’s arrogance towards recognising the needs of the community, of this minister’s lack of consultation with the community. We talked about this last year and, a year on, nothing has changed.
In the budget reply speech this year, I talked of the scattergun approach. I welcomed the announcement of improvements to the Isabella and Charnwood playing fields. As an aside, I am encouraged, but not entirely convinced, by the minister’s assurances today that these are just the start of a series of upgrades to ovals around Canberra.
It is important that we provide support for Asian Cup matches and the proposed improvements to Manuka Oval. As the nation’s capital, we need quality playing arenas to attract top sports events. But I remain concerned, minister, at the number of ovals that remain closed, the lack of availability of playing fields for local clubs to play sport at the junior level, and the fees that local clubs are expected to pay for playing fields that often do not have great facilities. When we have the minister heralding a new emphasis on programs that encourage under-15-year-olds to get active, it seems counterproductive to then slug clubs ever-higher fees to use these sporting facilities.
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