Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Hansard source

The community of Mount Gambier has been discussing the need for an indoor rec centre for about as long as I've been alive. Today I stand in this place to inform the House that the 40-plus years of discussions have culminated in the Wulanda Recreation and Convention Centre, which will be officially opened next week. This is a major piece of infrastructure, the largest council-led project ever constructed. It will provide substantial year-round facilities: an outdoor 50-metre pool, a new indoor 25-metre pool, a splash pad, a program pool, a learn-to-swim pool, multipurpose timber courts, function and community rooms, a healthcare centre and a cafe. It will increase the ability of people in Mount Gambier to host major sporting competitions, conferences and events. It will provide significant social and economic benefits to the broader Limestone Coast.

It's been a long journey, but it's something that I began championing when I joined the council for my eight-year stint in the mid-2000s. Unfortunately we didn't get the job done then, but I took the campaign to Canberra. Those who know me know I don't give up. I'm always looking to deliver for my community. So, as the member for Barker, I met with council in 2017 to get the proposal back on the agenda and begin a community conversation. I facilitated a community working group, who first met in my office in early 2018. The group's work needs to be acknowledged. They're responsible for this amazing result. They never wavered in the cause. There were naysayers but not these people who worked alongside me on this group. That original group of passionate community members are to be commended: Peter Collins, Hazel Grant, Jane and Scott Martin, Yvette Holmes, Matt Charlton, Rowan Williamson, Nathan Stratford, Julie Moran, Darryl Starick, Tom Koch, Grant Horrigan, Chris O'Callaghan and Ben Hood. Thank you for standing up even when it didn't look promising.

In March 2018 we held a community meeting at the Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre. Three hundred and fifty people attended, calling on the council to pursue this outcome. I was banging on doors in Canberra. My friends in the Liberal Party in South Australia were banging on doors in Adelaide. As a result, we received a pledge of $15 million from the former federal Liberal government and a pledge of $10 million from the former South Australian state Liberal government, the result being the Wulanda rec centre, to be opened next week in Mount Gambier. It's a great use of public funds. I'm proud to have been a part of its journey to creation. I'm even prouder that it was Liberal governments that delivered $25 million to make it happen.

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