Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week, the Brisbane Broncos officially opened their new centre of excellence, the Clive Berghofer Centre, in Red Hill, in my electorate of Brisbane. The federal government contributed significant funding towards the facility, further to election commitments that I made during my campaign to support it. I was proud to be there with Minister McVeigh at the official opening. In addition to the training and coaching facilities, the federal funding helped to ensure that the centre is truly a community facility, one that enhances the lifestyle, amenity and properties of nearby residents. So it included things like the rehabilitation of Ithaca Creek and the local environment, improvements to the surrounding parklands and streetscapes, linkages to walking paths and bike tracks, and a fitness park and a spectator stadium.

It's really important that we continue to support that long-time tradition of families coming down to facilities like these in their spare time and kicking a footy around with their kids. But this isn't just a local facility for Brisbane. The centre allows the Broncos to continue to expand their outreach programs to regional and Indigenous kids right across Queensland who are achieving outstanding results in those programs, helping kids to stay in school and ultimately to finish year 12. There will be about a hundred ongoing jobs at the centre, going forward. It's a great example of how this government can deliver for stronger communities, including in Brisbane.