Chris Crewther (Dunkley, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today I want to commend the Turnbull coalition government's commitment to fostering the opportunities and dreams of our young sports men and women. As well as the connectivity we've provided for the young people in my electorate of Dunkley, I have worked alongside the Minister for Health, my neighbour the member for Flinders, many local sporting clubs and community groups to advocate for and propose developments in Dunkley.

One example is the peninsula sports package, which has provided funding for numerous projects, including the newly-resurfaced Mornington netball courts, the brand new scoreboard for Lloyd Park in Langwarrin, an upcoming new hurdle shed in Ballam Park, funding for netball and other sports at Jubilee Park, an elite sports pathway program involving Peninsula Waves and others, lighting for the Frankston Dolphins Junior Football Club and a new athletics track for Mornington Little Athletics—just to name a few. We are investing in women's sport, funding female-friendly changing rooms and facilities, and funding solar installations for sporting and community groups, which also supports amateur community sport and assists those clubs with their running costs. Late last year, I officially opened the new Mornington Peninsula Hockey Centre synthetic pitch at Monash University's Peninsula campus, where I was told by players that the surface is world class and one of the best surfaces that they have ever played on. The Mornington Peninsula Hockey Centre has approximately 26,000 visitors every year between junior, senior, amateur and university club players and spectators.

The federal government also committed over $2 million to the upgrading of facilities at Civic Reserve in Mornington, following the 'where is our track' campaign by Mornington Little Athletics. This will deliver a new athletics track. In addition to that, we've been working with the member for Flinders to provide new soccer fields there, with an additional $1 million for the Mount Martha Soccer Club to relocate to Civic Reserve, providing further opportunities for the peninsula's junior players. Investment in sporting infrastructure is important for a number of factors. Aside from the obvious, attracting sporting talent to our communities and our sporting clubs, there are enormous benefits to residents' health for people of all ages keeping active. The peninsula sports package, worth over $6 million, will help our organisations cater for growing participation, particularly by women and young people, and support them in the construction and maintenance of infrastructure so that the clubs' funds can go towards training and other facilities for their members.

Being the youngest member of the House of Representatives, I am also particularly supportive of young people's participation in sport—the demand for which has been steadily increasing in recent times. Young people's involvement in sport helps their engagement in their communities. It links in with their education and work prospects and also prevents engagement in some of the negative things in our communities, such as drugs or crime. That's why the federally funded local drug action team in my electorate, for their first grant round, put forward a proposal to work with 95 peninsula sporting groups to help prevent alcohol and drug use. In Dunkley we are gaining a reputation as being an area that facilitates both families and young people in being not only a premier sporting region in both facilities and talent but also a community that wants to integrate people of all ages into what is a wonderful community.

As the federal member for Dunkley, I am committed to ensuring that our community has many opportunities and the resources to participate in sport at all levels. That's why, putting aside politics, I worked with different levels of government to advocate for the return of the Frankston Dolphins football club's VFL licence. This leads to the aspiration of young people participating in football, both women and men, who are aiming to go higher, whether from a junior club or a more senior club. I'm very pleased that they will be having their first game back in 2018, having had their VFL licence restored.

In addition, the federally funded Local Sporting Champions grants, available to Australian citizens between the ages of 12 and 18, who are travelling significant distances to compete in sport, are also very important. That is something that I have advocated for on behalf of a number of local residents. It is something the federal government contributes to ensure in a small way that Dunkley locals are able to participate in sporting competitions and potentially go on to elite competition in the future. The most recent grant round provided 13 young people in Dunkley with funding for them to travel interstate or internationally to competitions to represent their club, school or state. For example, Zac travelled to Western Australia to compete in basketball. Shayla and Shauna went to Western Australia to compete in hockey. Alana went to South Australia for soccer. Caleb and Rupert went to Queensland for rugby union. Hannah, Miles and Jordan went to South Australia for softball. Glenn went to New South Wales for orienteering. Chloe went to Western Australia for sailing and yachting. Monte went to South Australia for athletics. And Sophie also went to South Australia for touch rugby. Congratulations to all these participants, whom I know will go on to greater things.

While we work on our local sporting facilities—and we have a fantastic number of infrastructure projects underway—it is terrific that we are able to help young sporting men and women to pursue their goals at a higher level. Perhaps one day soon we'll see local sporting champions from other states travel to Dunkley to compete in competitions, for certainly we will have the facilities as well as the community optimism to host them.

Another point on this appropriations bill I wanted to speak about was some of the funding we've delivered locally for safety on roads in my electorate. Just recently, I went out to Two Bays Road in Mount Eliza, along with representatives from Mornington Peninsula Shire Council and others, to announce almost $2 million for the upgrading and widening of that road as well as a dedicated bike lane. This will be great for safety for local residents but also wonderful for road users and cyclists.

Another project that has been delivered recently through our Roads to Recovery funding is the upgrade of North Road in Langwarrin with $230,000 of federal funding. It upgraded North Road between Centre Road and Dandenong-Hastings Road. That is also a wonderful thing for improving road safety in that area. One of the things I was also proud to advocate for was the $280,000 federal funding towards the car park facility to provide safety for local students Mount Eliza. I'm very pleased that that project is now nearing completion. Advocacy around that project followed working with local community groups, local parents and others, particularly the Room to Move movement, which involved over 280 parents and others advocating for the urgent need for safety around the schools in that area in Mount Eliza. I'm very pleased to see that project around Nepean Highway and Canadian Bay Road now nearing completion.

Another project that I advocated for and achieved funding for was for the improvements to Barkly Street and Main Street in Mornington, which received $271,000 to upgrade the existing roundabout. Furthermore, we've also secured from the federal government an additional $104,000 for intersection improvement at Barkly Street and Tanti Avenue in Mornington to increase the radius of the roundabout's centre island to reduce the speed of approaching vehicles. In addition, last year I was also very pleased to go with the former minister to see some of the other developments we've achieved through our Roads to Recovery program. We achieved through the last round $1.1 million in funding for our local area for the Frankston City Council for improved construction of kerbs and channels and an asphalt overlay for driver safety at Fenton Crescent, Violet Street and Foot Street in Frankston and Frankston South.

These are some of the few things happening in my electorate I wanted to raise because road safety, for anyone in my electorate but in particular for young people and children using roads or cycling on those roads, is a very important thing. As the youngest MP, I want to support our young people to have a safe community to live in but also a community they can participate in, whether it's in sport or other activities, where they can achieve their dreams and aspirations. They can be involved in education. They can be involved in employment. As parents—as I know, being a parent of a young two-and-a-half-year-old daughter myself—parents want to achieve the best for their kids, and that's what I want to help achieve for the electors of Dunkley and their children. I thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for the opportunity to speak today on this appropriation bill, and I look forward to working with my local community, the local community groups, sporting clubs and others, to advocate for further funding for things that are needed in my electorate, including infrastructure, road funding, sporting clubs, community groups and others, because that connectivity in the community is so important.

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