PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE: PORT AUGUSTA CENTRAL OVAL REDEVELOPMENT

Mr SIBBONS (Mitchell) (11:39): I move:

That the 473^rd report of the committee, entitled Port Augusta Central Oval Redevelopment, be noted.

The committee received a proposal for a development of the Port Augusta Central Oval at a cost of $15 million, which includes the following components:

the refurbishment of the existing oval and associated amenities/infrastructure to meet Australian Football League standards

the construction of an 11-court outdoor floodlit netball facility that meets Netball SA standards

the construction of a new multiuse indoor sports stadium to accommodate three indoor basketball/netball courts, with potential for other future sports, player facilities (change rooms, toilets and showers), canteen, spectator viewing areas, and a members and function space

the deconstruction of existing oval grandstand and construction of a multipurpose clubroom

the part deconstruction of existing basketball stadium and refurbishment of remaining section for ongoing community use.

Much of the sporting and recreation infrastructure located at Port Augusta Central Oval is over 30 years of age and in need of replacement or enhancement if it is to continue to meet the needs of the growing community of Port Augusta. The project aims to create a regional level community and sporting hub that provides for football, netball, basketball and other community groups and functions that will feature:

a flat grassed playing field to cater for local district (regional), state (SANFL) and possibly national (AFL) exhibition fixtures

a new community indoor sports stadium which will accommodate three basketball/netball courts and seat up to 400 spectators

an 11-court floodlit outdoor netball facility that meets Netball SA standards

a community event space that meets the growing needs of the region.

Funding for the project is from the state government ($5 million) and the federal government ($5 million); the SANFL have contributed $150,000, and the balance is from the Port Augusta City Council. The Port Augusta City Council will manage the project. The redevelopment is expected to be completed by April 2014. Given this, and pursuant to section 12C of the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991, the Public Works Committee reports to parliament that it recommends the proposed public works.

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (11:42): I have a great deal of pleasure in supporting this project. The opposition members, the member for Waite and myself, were delighted that this project came through to the committee. It was interesting to have the proponents in there speaking to the committee at length and taking questions. There is no doubt in my mind that the Port Augusta facility will be a great boon to that section of the state, and sporting clubs from near and far will come in to use it. I think it is outstanding.

I would like to suggest that a fitting name for it could be the Joy Baluch Sporting Grounds, after the enormous effort that Joy Baluch has put into promoting Port Augusta. I spent some years dealing with Joy in another life, and she still continually refers to Port Augusta as the centre of the universe. Some of us may have a rather different point of view to that, but it is a line that she has used regularly and there has been no greater advocate for Port Augusta than Joy Baluch over the decades. I wish Joy well; I know that she suffers indifferent health. But she is forthright and she was extremely forthright in pursuing this project.

I think the breakdown is significant. Rowan Ramsey, the federal member up there, would need to be commended for his efforts on the federal government funding supporting that, and there is the $5 million from the state, $150,000 from SANFL, and the balance to come from the Port Augusta Council.

It will be a project that will be of enormous benefit to the community. It will be there for many decades to come and no doubt in due course it will need upgrades. I think it is a wonderful thing and I will look forward as a member of the Public Works Committee to, hopefully, going up when the project is open, in due course when it is completed. Again, I strongly suggest that a good name would be the Joy Baluch Sporting Grounds, or something similar.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (11:44): As the local member, I certainly wholeheartedly welcome this house's support for this project. I also wholeheartedly congratulate the Port Augusta City Council on their many years of hard work to get this project off the ground. They are really the heroes here, as they are the ones, under the guidance of their fantastic mayor, Joy Baluch—and certainly the staff have also done a fantastic job—who have pushed for this project to get it going.

I think it might be interesting for this house to have a short bit of history included in this debate. Initially, the council were not getting the support they were looking for from any quarter, and I was very pleased to be able to propose, as a candidate, to the Liberal opposition that we contribute an election promise of $5 million towards this project if we were elected. Certainly, the Liberal opposition at the time—and this is now nearly five years ago—gave the council and myself huge support in that department, and I said very publicly at the time to Port Augusta and the broader community that I hoped the government matched this promise because, regardless of the outcome at the election, Port Augusta and the surrounding community would get the $5 million.

Unfortunately, we were not successful at the election, but fortunately the government did match that promise and the $5 million, which is now coming from the state government, could be matched by $5 million from the federal government. Again, I congratulate the Port Augusta City Council because it was not until their third application for that federal funding that they got the $5 million.

They were obviously trying to hold onto the state money as long as they could, and they were putting in applications to get the federal money, but they did not want to keep trying for so long that they lost the state money; however, they knew the project could be more than twice as good if they could get the federal money, so good on them for doing that. They are now putting in several million dollars of their own money, and there are other contributors the member for Mitchell has mentioned.

This is an absolutely fantastic project. The upgraded Port Augusta Central Oval and all the additional sporting and recreational facilities will be accessible to boys and girls and men and women of all ages. Beginners, advanced and recreational sportspeople will have wonderful new facilities covering a wide range of sports and other activities. These new facilities will not only be for Port Augusta people to use but they will also be a regional sporting hub accessible to the whole north of the state. Everything from young beginners netball through to Crows and Port Power practice matches can be enjoyed in the new facilities.

Every popular sporting code in Port Augusta has been consulted in the development of these new facilities, and every one will benefit from them. This is not just about upgrading the football oval, this is about giving Port Augusta a very high-quality sporting precinct which will have a statewide reputation for many sports and active recreational purposes. There will be very clear health, social and economic benefits for Port Augusta, from the construction phase and, more importantly, for decades to come as the facilities are used by locals, other South Australians and interstaters. I commend the project, and I commend the report to the house.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson—Minister for Tourism, Minister for Recreation and Sport) (11:48): I also commend this report and the project to the house. I was in Port Augusta a few weeks ago and caught up with the member for Stuart up there. It is terrific the way that it will bring netball and football back together after a decision was made about 30 years ago for netball to move to a different location. Anyone in country areas of South Australia will know that the focal point on a Saturday is usually the footy clubs and netball clubs as they come together in the biggest volume sports in country South Australia, so I think that is a tremendous benefit.

The wider benefit for the people of Port Augusta will be the facility which is being built between the courts and the oval which will not only be used by sporting teams for their celebrations but in many ways will also be Port Augusta's civic centre. It will be available for conferences and conventions, and the court space, where the three courts are on the lower level of the building, can be opened right up as a fantastic place to hold exhibitions, and then of course upstairs there is plenty of room for conferences, dining and other facilities, so I think it is $15 million really well spent.

It is great to see local government, state government and federal government working together and, as the member for Stuart said, a bipartisan approach here. If someone puts up a good idea, instead of ridiculing it, we get on board. I want to also congratulate Sean Holden who was the candidate for Stuart at the last election as well, for the advocacy that he put in. I commend the project and the report to the house.

Motion carried.