Page 4913 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 25 October 2011
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We take a different approach. A government that I lead would actually focus on being the best local government, being a really good local government, not focusing on building offices we do not need, not stuffing around with projects that you cannot manage and therefore are costing taxpayers a lot more money, focusing on getting the basics right.
We believe this is one of the basics that they need to get right because it is important. It is important to families. It is important to communities. Mr Barr’s pretending that this is not important, pretending that the government have had a strong focus on it when they have not and pretending that the fees are not a big issue when they clearly are, shows how out of touch this government are.
When I look at the aspect of this policy in relation to delivery for local sporting facilities, the investment in grounds, we listened to the community and they said to us, “We have got real issues.” Let us have a look at some of the various places. Calwell district playing fields is one of the largest and highest use sports grounds in Canberra. However, there are no lights on one of the three ovals. At the Gordon ovals, while the AFL ground has lighting, the rugby union ground does not. We have seen Phillip oval playing surfaces not being renovated for years. At Jamison oval remote watering did not work last summer and the playing surface died. Griffith oval is used by many junior and senior teams but their change rooms are substandard and old and do not accommodate female teams and referees.
Mawson, Kaleen, Latham, Jamison are all home to several codes and lighting is absent in all or some of their fields and change rooms are rundown. Several fields have old or dysfunctional canteens. I know Mr Smyth and I both access Gowrie oval through our kids’ involvement with junior sport and we see and hear from our clubs about the rundown state of the facilities there.
So the issues are there. If you listen to the community, they will tell you about them. And that is why we have said we will listen to the community and that these kinds of grants, these $350,000 grants, will be done in consultation with those clubs. Those clubs will come to us, they will put in proposals and they will say, “Maybe in this case we need to upgrade the sprinkler system,” or, “Maybe in this case we need better lights.” Of course, what Mr Barr does not get is that this is just the beginning.
Mr Barr: Just the beginning? So is it a one-year or a four-year policy?
MR SESELJA: It is just the beginning.
Mr Barr interjecting—
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Mrs Dunne): Order, Mr Barr. Come to order. You will cease interjecting.
MR SESELJA: What you are going to see when you have a government that focuses on getting the basics right is a lot more of these types of policies. When you have a government that does not go and spend $430 million on a government office building
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