Tuesday, 13 August 2024

Laverton electorate sporting clubs

Sarah CONNOLLY (Laverton) (19:07): (764) My adjournment is for the wonderful Minister for Community Sport, and the action that I seek is that the minister come and join me in my electorate of Laverton to meet with representatives from some of our fantastic sporting clubs and communities that we have in our part of Melbourne’s west. As the minister knows, there are a bunch of wonderful groups in my local community that this government has supported with funding and commitments to help them play the game that they love so much.

In Truganina of course we have Truganina Thunder Football Club, who thanks to our government’s election commitment received $300,000 to go towards setting up lighting and, most importantly, a brand new scoreboard at Mainview Boulevard Reserve, right in the heart of Trug. I am proud to have developed a close relationship with this local club over the past couple of years, talking to mums and dads, watching their kids play sport; there is nothing I would rather be doing on the weekend. That is why we made this commitment heading into the last election, and I was so excited for the whole team there and all the work they put into advocating for this.

There is another outstanding club I wish to mention, and that is Sunshine Heights Cricket Club. As member for Laverton I have not known them for long, but as with so many of the clubs in my newer constituencies, the club has been nothing short of welcoming and absolutely amazing and constructive in letting me know what they need for their facilities. I am really pleased to say that their advocacy paid off in this year’s budget, where the club received $85,000 to go towards funding a brand new electronic scoreboard at Ainsworth Reserve in Sunshine West. Not only will this new scoreboard benefit the cricket club, but Ainsworth Reserve is also home to Sunshine Heights Football Club, who are equally enthusiastic in their support for this project.

Whether it is direct funding like these two or supporting clubs through grant programs, our government is delivering for our local sporting clubs in my patch of Melbourne’s west. That is why it would indeed be a great opportunity for the minister to join me in my electorate to meet with some of these clubs and their leadership and membership firsthand to see just how much positive work our government is doing by supporting community sport in my electorate of Laverton.