Page 889 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 27 February 2013
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(b) that as a response to those concerns, the Canberra Liberals announced a sportsground fee policy that proposed a reduction of 50% in hire charges for junior sports;
(c) that at the time the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation dismissed this idea, suggesting that fees were of little consequence to sports clubs or to Canberrans in general;
(d) that following the election, the Government increased the cost of hire for sportsgrounds for 2013 by over 50%; and
(e) that these increases are only being notified to clubs as they are invoiced, because the 2012 fees remain listed as current on the ACT Government website; and
(2) calls on the Government to:
(a) support the Liberal Party policy that reduces fees by 50% of 2012 levels and one that provides opportunities for all Canberra families to participate fully in local sports;
(b) table in the Assembly all information on who uses the grounds, frequency of use, revenue raised per venue, per sport and the modelling on which these proposed increases were calculated; and
(c) as an immediate interim measure, revert to the published 2012 sportsground charges until clubs can be properly advised as to what its intentions are for future increases.
I am pleased to be able to bring to the attention of the Assembly the important issue of junior sport in Canberra. Sport is very close to many Canberrans’ hearts. We have for some years now led the nation in the number of people, per head of population, who participate in some form of physical activity on a regular basis.
In recent months, and in months to come, sports tragics have had and will have an array of quality sporting matches to watch. We have a team in the AFL competition, the GWS, that plays in Canberra on a number of occasions. We now have Australia’s national baseball Claxton Shield winners in the Canberra Cavalry. Our own Brumbies have started the 2013 Super Rugby season in brilliant form; next week they will surely show up the New South Wales Waratahs, and in a month or two we will see them play the British Lions here in Canberra. The Raiders almost made it to the finals last year, and thrilled their supporters with their play in the lead-up. In cricket in January we saw the Prime Minister’s XI beat the West Indies, and that was followed by an Australian team beating the West Indies again here in Canberra.
The government has invested heavily in first-class sport, so it is good to see that the money has started to reap some rewards in these quality games. However, the love for the big end of town does not seem to have filtered down to the local level. That is a pity, because young Canberrans are particularly fortunate to have a wide choice of sports to be involved in.
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