Tuesday, 1 August 2023

Shooting sports

Jeff BOURMAN (Eastern Victoria) (13:58): (206) My question could go to a number of people. It could go to the Minister for Regional Development, the Minister for Community Sport or whoever represents what is left of the Commonwealth Games, so I am going to read it out and see how we go. I suspect it is the Minister for Community Sport. Whilst Victorians living in Melbourne are concerned about the sheer waste of time and money, in areas like the Latrobe Valley the ripple effect of the government’s recent cancelling of the 2026 Commonwealth Games will be felt for years to come. Part of the preplanning for the games involved pledges of funding for shooting facilities in regional areas. For the most part this was previously allocated spending reannounced, but it was appreciated all the same. My question is: will the government be allocating actual new money for shooting infrastructure in regional Victoria so there is at least a real legacy for communities that have been promised so much but delivered so little?

The PRESIDENT: We will call the Minister for Regional Development.

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Water, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Equality) (13:59): Thank you, Mr Bourman, for that question and for your ongoing interest in the work of shooting clubs across the state in the way in which they bring people together for practice, for competition and indeed for a range of other purposes. I was pleased to meet with the Morwell club last Friday to talk about the ongoing commitments that we have to upgrading the facilities there, including ranges and other facilities. They are getting me some further information so that we can make sure that that permanent development occurs in a way that brings additional events to that club. It is a really popular club, and we want to make sure that it also sits alongside other clubs across Gippsland.

The Leader of the Nationals was somewhat crestfallen that his part of the state did not perhaps get the attention that he was after with shooting, but I can confirm that the $60 million community sports fund will provide opportunities for infrastructure developments and for upgrades within rural and regional Victoria, which may well fall very squarely within the areas that you are talking about as they relate to shooting activities, to club work, to competition and indeed to the sport at large.

Jeff Bourman: Thank you, Minister. Unfortunately for me, you answered my supplementary question, so that is all I have got.