I rise to speak on the upgrade of facilities at the Birregurra Recreation Reserve, which will serve the Birregurra netball and tennis clubs. On 30 March I had the pleasure of meeting with representatives of the tennis club and the football and netball club as well as councillors and officers of the Colac Otway Shire to announce a $100 000 Andrews Labor government grant for the court redevelopment at the Birregurra Recreation Reserve. The project will entail the construction of two netball courts, one of which will be multi-use, and two tennis courts, along with the installation of sports lighting at one of each of the tennis and netball courts to enable practice and play at night.
No fewer than 60 people turned out to the funding announcement with only a few days notice on the eve of the Easter long weekend. This is testament to the commitment, passion and dedication that the Birregurra community, like many rural and regional communities, has for its sporting clubs. With this in mind, I would like to acknowledge the enormous effort the Birregurra Tennis Club put in to raise an enormous amount of money for this project. It was the driving force behind the whole redevelopment plan, and it has played an integral part in this redevelopment coming to fruition.
As I mentioned on the day, it is an absolute pleasure to announce funding support for not only a great project but also such a dedicated community. This project, and indeed the tennis and netball clubs themselves, simply would not be in existence if it was not for the volunteers who put in hour upon hour of work each and every week for the betterment of the clubs and their members. For this I thank and congratulate them. I look forward to going back to Birregurra to see the finished product.