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

Throughout my term in parliament I've been a proud supporter of the Frankston Football Club, the VFL's Dolphins, and I am also a proud 2018 member. A couple of months ago Frankston City Council in my electorate put $650,000, which they upped to $850,000, towards a new $2.5 million television broadcast lighting project for SkyBus Stadium for night VFL and VFLW games and hopefully also an AFL and AFLW game. They then sought both state and federal funding. Michael Lamb, the Liberal candidate for Frankston, Matthew Guy and the state Liberal opposition took the lead, committing $650,000 down in Frankston. This was matched by the state government. This brought total local and state funding to $1.5 million, leaving $1 million more needed.

As the community knows, I have been fighting for budgeted federal funding for many months, so I was pleased to recently announce that I had secured costed and budgeted federal funding of $850,000 towards this lighting project. Frankston City Council have promised to secure the other $150,000 needed. This means $1 million extra, which means the lights are fully funded. This promise is not reliant on a future election; it is budgeted funding. This means that the council can get started as soon as the season is finished so we can hopefully have new lights up and running for the 2019 football season. This is fantastic and will mean night VFL Dolphins games and night VFLW Southern Saints games, as well as night games for local league teams, can be held. I have also recently talked to and written to Gil McLachlan, CEO of the AFL, about securing a night AFL and AFLW game in the 2019 season. I'll keep up this conversation, and with your support and the support of the community perhaps we can secure this for next season. This will really help local small business and put Frankston on the national stage.

I also congratulate the Frankston Football Club on their first year back in the VFL. They have now put in place a strong board, processes, fundraising, a coach and a team, as well as membership and community support, that will see them stronger and better than ever not only off the field but also hopefully on the field in future. I clearly remember the turmoil of a couple of years ago when they lost their VFL licence. I remember driving down to the city to meet with AFL management, which secured an initial delay in their decision. I remember working with Peter Geddes and Ken Rowe to call together the first steering committee meetings to bring the Dolphins back into the VFL, with the first meeting held in my old office. The steering committee and the board put strong processes in place, and politicians of all colours got together. I'm also thankful to the federal government, who put $200,000 into building a function centre, which was critical to their fundraising last year to get their licence back as well as to their fundraising this year.