My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Sport, Recreation and Youth
Affairs in the other place and it concerns drought relief for sporting grounds.
All members are well aware of the impact that the drought is having,
particularly in country Victoria, and how it affects farming communities for
whom, by and large, a large part of their recreational activity relies on
sporting grounds, not just in terms of playing sport but in terms of the members
of the community having an opportunity to get together on weekends to support
their teams, chat about what is going on in their local community and also swap
experiences of how they are coping with the drought. As we know, the farmers
themselves are experiencing enormous fatigue environmentally and the animals are
also doing it tough, but the sporting grounds are being affected to the point
where there are many grounds that are judged to be simply too dangerous for
people to play on.
The Golden Plains Shire Council has applied for $100 000
funding for water irrigation, catchment and storage at three sporting locations:
the first is the Inverleigh Sporting Complex, the second is the Linton
Recreation Reserve, and the third is the Woady Yaloak recreation reserve. I
commend a number of initiatives that this government is taking in trying to
alleviate the effects of drought on communities. I urge the minister to fund
these applications submitted by the Golden Plains Shire Council so that those
communities can at least have an opportunity to be active and enjoy some part of
their weekends.