Thursday, 31 October 2019

 Ms GREEN (Yan Yean) (17:33): (1395) My adjournment matter is to the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events. The action I seek is for the minister to update the house on the next round of sports infrastructure grants that will continue the Andrews Labor government’s support for community sport and participation.

Across Victoria the Andrews Labor government has invested more than $850 million in community sport and recreation facilities since 2014. These investments support community health and wellbeing and also provide jobs and an economic boost. Now is the opportunity for all sporting clubs and codes to be discussing with councils what projects they need, and importantly, what projects are ready to start in this coming year.

My neighbouring colleague the member for Eltham and I know how keen our local sports clubs are because we recently hosted a community sport forum and submission-writing workshop. I want to thank the minister’s office and Sport and Recreation Victoria for their help facilitating this event at the most welcoming Eltham rugby club.

Yan Yean is one of the youngest electorates in the state and therefore very active, with an ever-growing demand for even more sports facilities. People living in Nillumbik, for example, have the highest participation rates of any local government area (LGA) in Victoria in sport, and this great sporting culture has nurtured many elite athletes, especially women like Melbourne Vixens captain Kate Moloney and the AFLW’s Steph Chiocci and Darcy Vescio. Plenty Valley Cricket Club’s Sophie Day and Sophie Reid both star in the Women’s Big Bash League and Tayla Vlaeminck is a current test player. The boys have done quite well too. Let us not forget the AFL’s Shaw family, Blake Caracella and David Zaharakis.

Recent facility upgrades in Nillumbik have included female-friendly pavilions, new clubrooms for football, soccer, hockey and cricket, pitch upgrades and lighting improvements. Next door in Whittlesea there are new clubs like Laurimar football and netball club, which is the third-largest club in the Northern Football Netball League, and the Whittlesea football club won the division 2 premiership and is back in division 1. It now fields masters and women’s teams, with girls participation going through the roof. So the demand for facilities well outstrips supply and is much needed due to Whittlesea’s dubious honour of being the number one LGA for heart disease in Victoria.

I have many sporting codes telling me that we need more stadia, swimming pools, courts, playing fields and much more. The AFLW’s Deanna Berry and Chloe Molloy got their start in the area, so I am sure they will inspire others to become more active and improve Whittlesea’s heart stats. I am looking forward to seeing players of the world game playing at the new Doreen soccer centre. Mitchell shire is a classic peri-urban local government area, where sporting clubs are the backbone, heart and soul of their communities, and they are fabulous at welcoming the many new residents, so they in turn need more facilities.

But it is not just me and the minister for sport who want to grow facilities and participation. The Minister for Education is pulling his weight. He is not just building 100 new schools across our state; he is ensuring all these schools include competition-sized facilities for community use. Once a sport minister, always a sport minister. I look forward to seeing more facilities in my electorate.