Wednesday, 2 August 2023

Mornington electorate sports facilities

Chris CREWTHER (Mornington) (19:16): (267) My adjournment matter is for the Premier. The action I seek is for the Premier to meet me and representatives of local sporting organisations such as Mornington Little Athletics to discuss the impact of the cancellation of the Commonwealth Games on them along with their need for facility upgrades and investment. The Andrews Labor government’s decision to cancel the games due to its own financial mismanagement has robbed local athletes of an opportunity to compete in front of their home crowd. It has robbed Victorians of the opportunity to be inspired by seeing their chosen sport at the highest level in person. It has robbed us of local tourism opportunities. It has robbed us of opportunities to inspire young Victorians to dream and further their sporting careers. One example is Marcus La Fontaine Pollard, a local under-18 Australian long jump champion. Marcus is a member of the Mornington Peninsula Athletic Club and was looking forward to the Victorian Commonwealth Games. Now his and his family’s costs to attend the games will be greater, and he will not be able to perform in front of hundreds of friends and family locally and thousands of Victorians.

The cancellation of the games adds a further issue for local sporting organisations in the Mornington electorate and beyond, many of whom need urgent facility upgrades. For example, Mornington District Basketball Association needs new courts, and clubs such as Mornington soccer, Mornington civic bowls, Peninsula Pirates baseball, Mornington junior football, Moorooduc junior football, Mount Eliza bowling and many others need upgrades. I fear these local sports clubs will also suffer because of the same financial mismanagement that led to the games cancellation in the first place, with state Labor’s debt projected to go to more than $300 billion over the next decade and interest payments soon to pass $22 million a day. The rationale for cancelling the Commonwealth Games was an updated cost of $7 billion, which would have made it the most expensive games in history – way more than the government’s original costing of $2.6 billion, which it confirmed in the budget only months ago.

However, there are reports that games compensation and cancellation costs may be more than $1 billion, not to mention the $2 billion cost of games legacy projects that the state have committed to building anyway. This would make the cost of not having the games more than the total cost of having the 2022 Birmingham games, which was just $1.8 billion. This comes after the Premier promised before the election that:

We will deliver the projects we said we would deliver. We will not be breaking promises and cancelling projects.

But he has done just that, and instead of looking at cancelling things like the white elephant $200 billion-plus Suburban Rail Loop, he has embarrassed Victoria on the international stage and robbed athletes and Victorians of opportunity and inspiration. He has also put at risk Victoria’s ability to secure other major sporting events if organisers are not confident that Victoria can follow through. Premier, I do repeat my call to you to join me to discuss the impact of the games cancellation with my local sporting clubs along with their need for facility upgrades and investment.