Sport and Recreation Facilities

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (15:26): I rise this afternoon to speak on a number of important initiatives in my community, initiatives that were ready to be delivered by Labor but that, sadly, the Marshall Liberal government refuse to meaningfully engage on, demonstrating their utter disregard for the south. Our southern community is one that is connected, kind and resilient. Sport in the south is an important part of making it so and of bringing our community together.

Sport is a powerful tool for connecting and engaging people in healthy activity and for giving people a sense of belonging. That is why the member for Kaurna and I were so pleased that $14 million was budgeted by Labor earlier this year for a southern sporting complex—money that was ready for this project. Despite repeated requests and questions about the future of this work, this Liberal government seems to have misplaced the allocated funds.

We know that the demand for sporting facilities is rapidly growing, which is why Labor committed $14 million towards this new multipurpose recreation centre that would become the hub for indoor sport in the south. That is why Labor had record investment in sport and why people are so incredibly angry that this government has ripped at least $20 million from it and $24 million from the Female Facilities Program.

This complex is vital to our community, and I wrote to the Minister for Sport and Recreation asking him to commit to following through with this fully funded project, only to receive a vague response that lacked any commitment or any clear answer whatsoever. I ask here again that the minister commits funding to this hub so that people in the south can come together as a community, through their sport, in the facilities that they deserve.

Labor was and is ready to work with the Roger Rasheed Sports Foundation and the City of Onkaparinga to create a $5 million sports hub at Morton Road in Christie Downs. Unlike the southern sports complex, this was going to be focused on outdoor sport and recreation activities, including a skate park, and on some very important mentoring for young people in our community, particularly those less engaged with supports in our community. This plan is one that is totally about involving our young people and their families in programs that lift them up, wrap around them and see them doing their best.

We, Labor, had proudly committed to contributing $3.2 million towards the $5 million project that would create the new sporting precinct to engage young people and provide free coaching for at-risk young people in our southern community. The City of Onkaparinga was to provide $1.5 million, with the Roger Rasheed foundation committed to contributing additional funding. I am really pleased and proud to have supported this project from the beginning and to have engaged our community, particularly our young people, in helping to design what it could look like.

I was so proud the day that Roger Rasheed came to Christie Downs and had some of our youngest community members take him for a walk around Morton Road reserve and talk with him about what was important to them and their lives. Our community now needs this plan to come to fruition. This project will support the revitalisation of Christie Downs, provide young people with a place where they can engage in all sorts of sport and recreational activities and bring local kids and families together to help them thrive.

I wholeheartedly agree with the objectives of the Roger Rasheed Sports Foundation, which engages young people to get involved in a really diverse range of sports and, by doing so, learn new skills and various new approaches to difficult issues. As I said, sport is an excellent way to include young people and give them a sense of belonging, and I truly believe that this project can do that. We just need those opposite to commit to investing in our southern community and in our young people, and I call on them to do so.

Completing the Witton Bluff Base Trail was another commitment Labor made before the last election, but it is very difficult to get this Liberal government to come to this party. At the moment, you can go for a lovely walk or bike ride along our beautiful coast at Christies Beach to Witton Bluff. If you want to continue, you have to leave the track, which comes to a dead end, go up to the main road and then come back around to rejoin the track at Port Noarlunga. Our plan would have completed the construction between Christies Beach and Port Noarlunga, the missing link in our beautiful coast park. This was part of Labor's commitment to investing up to $15 million to provide uninterrupted and safe walking and cycling trails along our beaches.