Northern Victoria Region
Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (12:52): (60) My question is for the Minister for Community Sport, and it concerns the condition of infrastructure at the Murchison-Toolamba Football Netball Club. I ask: Minister, will you match the coalition’s pre-election commitment by committing $4.1 million to the Murchison-Toolamba Football Netball Club to complete stages 1, 2 and 3 of their planned redevelopment? The Murchison-Toolamba football club plays its home games at the Murchison Recreation Reserve, land that is owned by the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action. The current football club rooms were constructed in 1981 and have not been renovated or upgraded since. Club officials recently met with officers from the AFL, who, after inspecting 3000 other football clubs, deemed Murchison’s facilities to be in the bottom 100 clubs in terms of condition. While many football-netball clubs fall into recess or disband forever, the Murchison–Toolamba Grasshoppers continue to grow each year, but they need infrastructure to bring the club into the 21st century and have completed plans for a six-stage redevelopment of the precinct. Minister, please back this growing club by funding this project in full.