Page 326 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 31 May 1989
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the Australian Rules people, who in response to a specific request from me as to whether or not they would use this facility have indicated that they wish to use the facility next year for an evening for at least one Panasonic match; and they would seek to use the same facility for possibly one club game which they hope to locate in Canberra next year.
The Cricket Association has been consulted and has indicated that it would use the facility, particularly for day and night matches. Canberra is not on the current day-night match circuit, and this facility would make it possible. This would be after the association had examined the plans and the details of the boundaries.
In the past it has been suggested that the size of the field, the size of the paddock and the location of the boundary would preclude the stadium from use for Australian Rules football and for cricket. But I have had assurances from both the Cricket Association and from ACTAFL that they would want to use the upgraded facilities, so we have clear usage there. Similarly, the Soccer Association has expressed support for the upgrading of the facility and to utilise the facility for its football code. So quite clearly it is a multipurpose facility.
The provision of the facility is also totally appropriate in a community which is the most sport-minded in Australia. I had a meeting this week with representatives of the ACT Sport, Fitness and Recreation Advisory Committee chaired by Dr Alan Roberts. At that meeting he pointed out that sport is a major factor in our community in that 116,000 residents are registered to play officially.
They are not all rugby league supporters. Mr Humphries suggested that there were great votes in rugby league, but there are 116,000 people who are so interested in sport that they are registered to play officially. They cover 94 different sports, and they do not include the people who undertake sport without being registered players, such as recreational tennis and indeed jogging. It is an amazing percentage of a population and would, I suspect, be unique in the world. We know that the people of the ACT want sports facilities and like watching sport. The structure of my portfolio has been designed to provide a focus for that aspiration.
I would like to go quickly to some of the points which have been raised by speakers, and I hope to address the issues that have been raised. Mr Stefaniak raised the question of the removal of the running track and whether there was any alternative to its removal. In fact, for reasons that relate to the size of the pitch, the dead ball line that was mentioned, but also its use for multipurpose activities for Australian Rules football and others, it is necessary to remove the track.
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