House of Assembly Fifty-Fifth Parliament Parliament, First Session (55-1) 55 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Sport and Recreation Sport and Recreation Mrs PEARCE House of Assembly King Sport and Recreation Mrs PEARCE (King) (14:42): My question is to the Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing. How is the Malinauskas Labor government investing in local sporting and recreation clubs? The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD House of Assembly Reynell Minister for Child Protection Minister for Women and the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence Minister for Recreation Sport and Recreation The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD (Reynell—Minister for Child Protection, Minister for Women and the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (14:43): I thank the member for this question. In doing so, I note the member for King's tireless work in her community supporting and advocating for improvements at local sport and recreation clubs alongside local volunteers who work so hard week after week to bring sport to life for local people. Can I also note that the member for King is both a champion for local clubs and people and indeed a champion netballer for the Golden Grove-based Northeast Zodiacs, where she was the summer season 2020-21 best and fairest for her extraordinary skills in her wing defence role. With the member for King and other local members, our government will be delivering on our commitments to improve and upgrade facilities across the north-east, including contributing to an upgrade at Magill Oval, at One Tree Hill and the Tilley Reserve project. The member for King and all members of our government know how powerful sport and recreation is and what it can bring to communities across our state. It keeps people active and improves physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. It gives many people a wonderful sense of belonging and opportunity to connect and form friendships and enable communities to explore issues that our community and world confront, and more than ever over the past two years it has been a lifeline for many. It is crucial to the fabric of our state that funding for sport and recreation through peak bodies, state sporting organisations and local clubs, enables people to equally and actively participate in a sport that they love with appropriate infrastructure to support them to do so. Our government is focused on improving the quality of life for South Australians by investing in sport and recreation organisations and facilities—organisations and facilities which communities themselves have identified as needing improvement and which have been advocated for so strongly by local members shoulder to shoulder with the big-hearted volunteers from these clubs who deeply care about the people in their communities they bring together through their particular sport or recreation. Along with these investments in local sporting facilities, our government is also supporting the growth and development of our excellent state sport and recreation organisations and industry support organisations through the state’s Sport and Recreation Development Program. This program will help these organisations to develop their strategic priorities and also assist with building capacity and leadership, as well as policy development in their respective sporting codes. Applications for this program will open tomorrow and funding will be payable to the successful organisations in July. I invite these sporting organisations to put in their applications, and I look forward to updating the house about the outcomes of this important grant program. I also look forward to further announcements about grant programs and to continuing to work with members to support clubs and all that they do to include people, give them that wonderful sense of belonging and support them to do and be their best on and off their particular playing field. I certainly thank all members who advocate so passionately for sporting bodies in their local areas and look forward to working with all members of the house as we deliver infrastructure projects across communities.