Oatley Electorate Sporting Projects

Hansard ID: HANSARD-1323879322-108273

Hansard session: Fifty-Seventh Parliament, First Session (57-1)

Oatley Electorate Sporting Projects

Mr MARK COURE (Oatley) (20:44):

:56 I inform the House of a number of local sporting projects currently occurring in my electorate of Oatley. My local area has a hugely active sporting community and it has been my pleasure to advocate on behalf of and try my best to support those groups. Perhaps most important is the huge injection of much-needed funding for Gannons Park. For many years Gannons Park has been the home of Lugarno FC and Forest Rangers FC. Our local sporting clubs deserve first-class facilities and this funding boost will help Georges River Council deliver new and upgraded playing surfaces and amenities at some of our most popular parks and ovals.

Late last year funding of $1.8 million was announced to upgrade Gannons Park. This funding injection will allow council to deliver high-quality infrastructure, facilities and services to its residents. Of this funding, $1 million was for Gannons Park stage three, which included upgrades to the playing surfaces with irrigation and drainage works for the eight heavily used sporting fields at the northern end of the park. Construction of many of these sporting fields has begun, and returfing and irrigation works at Gannons Park are underway as I speak. This work will see better playing fields for many local sporting teams, particularly Lugarno FC and Forest Rangers FC along with the ICC Cricket Club and of course Oztag, which uses Gannons Park.

Additionally, $800,000 has been set aside for a brand-new sports amenities building at Gannons Park. This has been topped up with much-needed funding by Georges River Council and will include a canteen, male and female change rooms, medical rooms, storage, public amenities and a covered barbeque area. The Federal Government has also provided much-needed funds. Construction is now also well underway of a synthetic field and sports amenities building at Poulton Park. This is exciting news. This is one of two synthetic fields that the electorate of Oatley will have in the lower part of the St George area. Some $3 million was allocated to the project for an additional synthetic mini-field for younger players and an upgrade to the amenities block.

This is a great result for the Connells Point area and for soccer overall. It is also a good win for Connells Point Rovers FC. Too many players were getting injured at Poulton Park due to the poor condition of the fields. I was saddened to hear from Connells Point Rovers FC President Mr Stephen Matthews that over the past three years club players have had more than 12 serious injuries that were directly related to the quality of the field surface. These new amenities will provide a safer playing environment for all players, not just for the Connells Point Rovers but all teams that play at Poulton Park.

This year during the election campaign I had the pleasure of announcing $500,000 in grant funding for Olds Park field 2. This funding injection will provide a better playing surface for many local sporting groups, including netball, junior cricket, soccer, Australian Football League [AFL] and Little Athletics—to name a few. I give a big shout-out to Penshurst Panthers AFL, a fantastic team. I know that many local sporting groups will be pleased with this funding announcement as local sport is an intrinsic part of life in our community. I am pleased to announce that Georges River Council has proceeded with the irrigation and returfing of field 2. That funding commitment is being delivered by the Government.

Over at Peakhurst Park, along with the previous Minister for Sport, I was able to announce that the St George Football Association would benefit from the second round of funding from the 2015 Asian Cup Legacy Fund. The association received $150,000, along with some additional funding from the State Government, with money from council to construct a new synthetic sports field at Peakhurst Park field 5. This is a fantastic achievement for everyone who plays soccer at Peakhurst Park, along with other grassroots sporting teams. Additionally, local football players, volunteers, officials and spectators will benefit from a $300,000 grant from the New South Wales Government for an upgraded amenity block at Oatley Park. This is a big upgrade and a big win for Oatley FC.

This is only the beginning of many sporting commitments that we have made to the council over the past 12 months. There are many more projects to deliver and much more to say. I look forward to informing the House of the development of our local sporting facilities in the future.