Bridget Archer (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On any given Saturday morning in winter, the sound of junior netballers and their supporters can be heard far from the courts. Club netball continues to grow from strength to strength in our region, with the Northern Tasmanian Netball Association now reaching more than 1,500 members across 13 clubs. With junior, senior and causal rosters, plus carnivals and two northern based statewide teams, playing and training currently occurs across various venues in the region, including Hoblers Bridge and the Silverdome.

As a proud patron of the NTNA, I've worked closely with their director, Jacinta, and her team over the past few years to identify possible locations for a new indoor facility that would provide long-term solutions. Jacinta told me last year: 'We're at capacity and cannot grow. We already do not meet the numbers that we have.' Having advocated heavily to the Tasmanian government to work with the NTNA and Netball Tasmania to find a suitable site, I'm thrilled that netball will have a permanent home at the Northern Suburbs Recreation Hub, with four indoor courts to be constructed. Having fought for and secured the $15 million to establish the multipurpose hub in the 2019 federal election, I welcome the Tasmanian government's investment of an additional $27 million that will see construction begin next year on the hub. Netball is just one sport in the region that has struggled to find suitable court space over the past few years, and I'll continue to work with other sporting codes to ensure that they can continue to meet growing demand.