David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Monday, 18 May, I attended the St George Football Association delegates meeting at Mortdale RSL in my electorate of Banks. The St George Football Association represents the football community within my electorate and across the broader St George region—24 clubs ranging from Lugarno in the west right across to the Pacific Ocean in the east. The association has about 10,000 active members. The club continues to grow, with player numbers up seven per cent in 2015, reflecting the popularity of football in my community.

There is piece of unfinished business in the football community in the St George region of Sydney, and that is the need for a professional quality synthetic playing field. Most other parts of Sydney have a professional quality synthetic field for finals and representative games to be played on. The St George community does not have such a field and it is time we had one. There is a proposal to create, at Penshurst Park, a new synthetic field with a grandstand, office space for the football association and various other facilities for the broader community. I strongly support this proposal and indeed have lobbied the council to make this happen. We need to have a synthetic football field facility in the St George region. Frankly we should have one already, so it is high time this occurred.

In the coming weeks and months, Hurstville City Council will consult with the community and prepare a revised proposal for Penshurst Park—following on from the first draft proposal which was released some weeks ago. It is very important, as our community works through that process, that we keep in mind that the St George Football Association—and indeed the football community of St George—absolutely requires a synthetic football field. I will do everything I can to make that happen.

I do congratulate the football association on their great work in the community, and I wish all players and their families a successful and fun 2015.