David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Hansard source

On 29 September I met with Jackie McCann, the President of St Christophers Netball Club. St Christophers is one of the strongest netball clubs anywhere in the Canterbury Bankstown region, and St Christophers itself actually provides some of the strongest clubs across pretty much every sporting code, be it football, cricket or rugby league. It was really good to talk with Jackie and to find out about the plans for next season. Obviously, it has been a difficult time this year with the season being cut short, but it was really good to hear about the plans for next year and some of the recent successes. Congratulations to Amelia Kirgan from St Christophers Netball Club, who was recently selected in the Australian under-17 netball squad. That's a fantastic achievement and a great testament to everyone at St Christophers, since 1965 a fantastic and very important netball club in our local community.

Hurstville United Junior Rugby League Football Club is a fantastic club, and it's really good every year to go along to the awards ceremony and present the Banks Outstanding Sporting Achievement Awards. Recently, I've been chatting with the president, Holika Taufa, about various issues of importance to the club. One is the need for a high-quality home for junior rugby league in the St George district. Of course, we're fortunate to have Kogarah's Jubilee Oval for the Dragons and other senior teams, but there is a need for a facility for junior rugby league in the area, a place they can call home. It's been really good to talk with Holika and other members of St George junior rugby league clubs on that very important topic, and I look forward to doing more work on it in the future.

Forest Rangers are one of the biggest sporting clubs anywhere in the St George region, in any code. They have been on an absolute growth tear in recent years. There are about a thousand players in Forest Rangers, down there at Gannons Park. It was good to catch up with Con Sorras, the president, recently. We talked through various issues of concern down at Gannons Park. Gannons, of course, houses more football players than any other park in St George, and I suspect there would be very few places in Sydney that more footballers call home. There are more than 1,500 players across Forest Rangers and Lugarno FCs, and it's really important that all of the recent improvements to Gannons are built upon; that the pitch remains in the good-quality condition it was in after the big renovation and irrigation project. It was good to talk to Con about those issues, and I look forward to continuing to work with Forest Rangers.

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