Federal Member for Nicholls Sam Birrell announced on Wednesday, April 16 that if elected, a Dutton-Littleproud Coalition government will commit $20 million in funding to expand the Shepparton Sports Stadium.
Mr Birrell and the Nationals made a similar commitment of $25 million to the Shepparton Sports Stadium during the last federal election.
It is expected to be a $32 million project, with funding commitments from Shepparton’s council and the Victorian Government still to come.
Given the stadium was built in the 1970s, and hasn’t received significant upgrades in the past three decades, Mr Birrell said he was keen to see Shepparton add a high-level sports centre to its roster.
“You drive around here, and I had a guest from interstate here, and you drive through this sports precinct, and you see fantastic hockey facilities, you see the GV Suns’ home ground and that really great soccer facility,” Mr Birrell said.
“What’s missing? It’s a really state-of-the-art basketball indoor stadium with a lot of access for spectators.
“The user groups have been calling for it.
“I think (City of Greater Shepparton Mayor Shane Sali) said this is the missing part of the jigsaw in the Shepparton sports offering.”
If forthcoming, the $20 million in funding will contribute to four new basketball/netball/multi-use national standard-compliant courts with one being a new show court with 3000 retractable seats for spectators.
The current Shepparton Sports Stadium won’t be knocked down according to Mr Birrell, with the new section being added to the existing complex.
The Federal Member for Nicholls can’t guarantee funding for the stadium if the Coalition isn’t elected in May; however, he said he would keep pushing for the project to be completed.
“I will continue to advocate for the project if we are not in government,” he said.
“I have had some success, we made some commitments last time and was able to work with groups to get some funding from the Labor government.
“I hope we can do that, ideally we win, and we can just deliver the funding straight up-front.
“If we are in government it will definitely be funded.”
Mr Birrell credited user groups and The News’ Jay Bryce for their consistent campaigning for a new Shepparton Sports Stadium.
“We committed to it three years ago before the last election, so I am doing that again, but Jay and the Shepp News and the user groups, they kept the issue on the agenda, which has been great,” he said.
“When you are an MP — a good MP — you listen to your community, and you find out what they are interested in, and you feed that back to the decision-makers in Canberra. That’s how I want to operate as an MP and that is how this has worked.”
Mr Birrell didn’t want to give a definite timeline on when construction on the four new courts would begin and end, and he couldn’t confirm that user groups’ time on the current courts wouldn’t be affected during the build.
The significant upgrades to the Shepparton Sports Stadium complex is among Greater Shepparton City Council’s three key infrastructure priorities ahead of the election.
Cr Sali said that while it was great to secure a funding commitment for one of the city’s key priorities, he and the council would continue advocating for the other two to receive commitments, as well as the six secondary priorities.
“We have been really clear and have a really big expectation that we want all those projects announced and being able to be committed to,” Cr Sali said.
“We welcome those announcements from all levels of government and all parties.
“Today is a really pleasing announcement that we were really clear around our expectations as a city and community for $20 million, and it is great to have Sam back that up with that election commitment.
“It is also about making sure that if commitments are made from Sam and others, that council can contribute as well.”
