Thursday, 7 April 2022

South Eastern Metropolitan Region basketball facilities

Mr RICH-PHILLIPS (South Eastern Metropolitan) (18:43): (1890) I wish to raise a matter for the attention of the Minister for Community Sport in the other place, and it relates to the provision of basketball facilities in the south-east. Basketball is in fact one of the most popular and largest community participatory sports throughout the south-east community. The Frankston & District Basketball Association oversees some 15 000 games a year from 8000 participants in some 900 teams, so it is an incredibly popular sport throughout the south-east. Much of the competition is conducted at the existing, dated Frankston basketball stadium, and indeed the competition relies on eight other satellite locations throughout the greater Frankston area in order to accommodate the extent of the activity. Increasingly the association is required to use courts earlier and later in the day because the existing facilities simply do not accommodate the level of demand that now exists.

There is a proposal on the table for the redevelopment of the stadium into a new Frankston basketball and gymnastics stadium. This is a facility which would meet the long-term needs of the Frankston & District Basketball Association and meet the long-term needs of those families and those communities participating in basketball throughout the south-east. It is a redevelopment that requires a capital commitment of some $45 million. The City of Frankston has already agreed to commit one-third of the funds—that is, $15 million—towards the proposal, with a view to having construction commence in 2024–25. Critical, though, for the project commencing—for the design work being done and the construction to commence—is for the Victorian government to make a commitment to the project. The association and the City of Frankston are seeking a commitment of $15 million from the Victorian government to make that project a reality. As I said at the outset, basketball is an incredibly popular community sport in the south-east and in Frankston, and this is a very important project for the community. So the action I am seeking from the Minister for Community Sport is to ensure that in the budget, which will come down next month, the commitment of $15 million to the new redeveloped Frankston basketball and gymnastics stadium is made by this government so that the project can commence as a matter of urgency.