Newland Electorate Sports Facilities

Dr HARVEY (Newland) (15:22): I was thrilled to be at the official opening of the new tennis and netball courts at the Banksia Park Sports Area last week. I attended along with the Premier, the Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing and a number of other parliamentary colleagues and elected members of the local council.

This is a very important local project for grassroots sport that has been a long time in the making. This project will directly benefit the Tea Tree Gully Tennis Club, Tea Tree Gully Netball Club, Banksia Park Netball Club and the recently arrived Strikers Netball Club. Also, importantly, I know Jason Todd, the coach of the tennis club, is really keen to see greater access by the local community.

Way back in August 2017, as the then Liberal candidate for Newland I organised a meeting to bring together the three clubs that occupied the site at the time, along with the then shadow minister for sport and recreation, who is now the minister. It was clear from our conversations with those clubs that capacity was a problem at that site, whether it be for the netball clubs that were using those courts for training a couple of nights a week or similar capacity constraints for the tennis club. It also limited the sorts of competitions that the tennis club could host.

As the local candidate, I then launched a local campaign to see this facility upgraded. I really would like to congratulate and thank all club members for their efforts in helping gain broad community support for the project. In the lead-up to the 2018 state election, the Marshall Liberal team committed, if elected, to invest $345,000 to upgrade the facility, which was ultimately a council-owned facility. Importantly, we consulted with the council about this project at the time.

Thanks to the confidence shown by the community in the Marshall Liberal team across the state, particularly in Newland, we were fortunate to be elected to government in 2018. Following the election, the Marshall Liberal government entered into a funding agreement with the City of Tea Tree Gully for the construction of six multipurpose courts, with the government to invest $350,000. Whilst there was some politicking from local councillors, the council ultimately and unsurprisingly fulfilled their end of the bargain. I thank the council for that, and I know the local clubs are also grateful.

In May last year, it was exciting to see the fences go up around the grassed area adjacent to the original courts and to see works commence on the brand-new courts and to see additional parking and lighting at that site. I happen to live just around the corner, so I was always very pleased to see what was going on each day as I went past. Over the subsequent months, it was great to see works progressing to being essentially completed in October/November last year. The original official opening was scheduled for 18 November, which unfortunately had to be postponed due to the Parafield cluster.

In achieving this goal and the project, I would very much like to thank the local sporting clubs for their efforts in helping to secure the upgrade and also for their efforts in supporting important local community clubs. The Tea Tree Gully Tennis Club has a very hardworking committee. I would like to acknowledge club coach, Jason Todd, and president, Scott Sheridan. Other committee members, including Paul Crisanti, Mark Zander, Kelly Zander, Nick Reynolds, Amy Secomb, Mark LeDan, Beryl Adamson, Jenny McIntyre, Karen Sheridan, Mark Duffield, Peter Gibbons and Mark Wiegosz, have done a wonderful job supporting tennis players of all ages. I was also pleased to see at the start of this year that the tennis club was able to take advantage of the expanded number of courts to host a highly successful tennis tournament.

The Tea Tree Gully Netball Club were also particularly prolific in advocating for their club. Again, I would like to acknowledge their committee members: Helen Burvill, Natalie Henry, Cathy Heffernan, Natalie Maxted, Sarah Lavingdale, Janelle Smith, Gemma Burvill, Heather Fleet, Tania Lewis, Alice Reynolds, Leah Dredge and Tim Buckingham.

I acknowledge the Banksia Park Netball Club and their committee, including Rachel Onderstal, Renee Walker, Dee O'Loughlin and Heidi Pachur. I also acknowledge the Strikers Netball Club, which is the new beneficiary of the expanded number of courts, and their committee, made up of Laura Clark, Linley Bertram, Linda Frick, Ryan Kemp, Mel Ryan and Karen Lang. I am really excited to see this project going ahead in this fantastic central location within our community and to be part of a government that is building what matters and supporting local grassroots sport.