Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to update the House on some exciting developments in my electorate of Swan in relation to my local campaign for the West Coast Eagles AFL club to move to Lathlain Oval. Members will be aware that in 2010 I started a local campaign for the West Coast Eagles AFL club to relocate their training base to Lathlain Oval in my electorate of Swan. I announced this on 10 June in an edition of my electorate newsletter and received a great amount of encouragement from many constituents.

I saw at that time a great opportunity for my electorate resulting from the Barnett Liberal-National government's decision to build a new sports stadium at Burswood, the suburb to the north-west of Lathlain. The Eagles currently train and are based at Subiaco in the western suburbs, where the current stadium is located. I calculated the new stadium would provide an opportunity for the West Coast Eagles to look to re-establish and improve their training base facilities and this would potentially provide a great opportunity for a community somewhere in Perth. I wanted to make sure that this was my community in the electorate of Swan.

The Lathlain Oval site I proposed was ideal in many respects. It is very close to the new stadium site in Burswood of course, but is also currently the home of the West Australian Football League club, the Perth Demons, where I served as Director of Junior Development on the board and am still one of the patrons. My son also plays there after coming back from Port Adelaide. However, the club holds the site on a lease fairly and squarely and has always resisted development for non-sporting purposes. This has meant that there is enough space for the AFL training standard of two ovals required for a training base. The site is also close to public transport and the major roads that lead to Perth Airport, such as the Great Eastern Highway.

The community and economic benefits of having the Eagles and the accompanying development of a world-class sporting infrastructure in the heart of the Lathlain Oval precinct will be substantial. It was for these reasons that I publicly proposed in 2010 that the Eagles move to Lathlain. This certainly put the option at the forefront of people's minds but plenty of work and careful negotiation still had to be done. During the past three years I have had numerous meetings and discussions with the West Coast Eagles, including with their CEO Trevor Nisbett. In the intervening timeframe we have gone from an option to a preferred option and careful negotiations have been going on between those potentially to be involved.

One of the major threats to the project proceeding was confusion at the state election in March this year when the Labor Party announced they would not support the new stadium being built at Burswood if they were elected. This however was resolved by the resounding election result in WA in March, but it was a challenge that had to be overcome. I am pleased to say that the day before the election, 6 September, the Eagles announced a heads of agreement with the local council to take this further, at the same time announcing publicly their vision for the Lathlain Park project.

This vision is twofold:

These community facilities were outlined on 6 September, including a David Wirripunda Foundation, the West Coast Eagles community program facilities, a community hub including cafes, barbeques, playgrounds and landscaping as well as a running track. The plans include aquatic rehabilitation and recovery facilities, indoor football training facilities, sports science facilities, administration and of course the two ovals—one the size of the new stadium pitch and the other the size of the MCG, for obvious reasons.

The community have certainly reacted favourably to this announcement. Indeed, I have been told by many constituents that they have noticed the value of their houses go up considerably since the announcement, reflecting not only the economic benefits of the development of a world-class sporting infrastructure but also the desire of people to live in these exciting areas. I understand that the local council is also hoping for economic development to follow and will embrace and support that.

Since being elected on 7 September, I have been holding further meetings with the West Coast Eagles and the AFL, both in my electorate and here in Canberra. I see the member for O'Connor is here, and he met with the West Coast Eagles when they were here last week as well. There is also a FedCats dinner held annually in Canberra, which I attend on a regular basis but did not make it to this year. Just to let the FedCats know, the West Coast Eagles will now be holding a West Coast Eagles dinner in Canberra as well—and I see the member for Wakefield is here; he is more than welcome to come along. I will continue to do everything possible to bring this concept to fruition for the benefit of my electorate.

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