Page 2672 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 10 August 2016
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of the necessary maintenance period. There is really no other way to meet the dual missions for Active Canberra in keeping grounds safe, fit for purpose and in line with community expectations. There are times when that maintenance will be necessary. The suggestion that it is possible to keep the ovals to a standard and keep them open 365 days a year is impossible and one that I trust nobody in this place has an expectation of.
The other issue we face in the ACT, which in fact the world is seeing, is changing weather patterns: changing rainfall and, particularly, higher than average temperatures in the summer months. These unavoidable facts are driven by climate change. These are certainly factors that we are going to need to take into account in the longer term. Hotter, drier summers make it more difficult to maintain ovals. They put upward pressure on the amount of water that is necessary and upward pressure on maintenance. These are challenges that we will need to continue to adapt to.
In closing, I acknowledge Minister Berry’s willingness to talk about the substance of the issues raised by Mr Doszpot today. I also acknowledge the points that she has made in her amendment, that there are specific investments in this year’s budget of $1.8 million for a sportsground irrigation and maintenance funding boost and $1.1 million for community sporting infrastructure and asset maintenance.
The point around the continued significant subsidy of sporting facilities is an important one. The ACT sits below the general benchmark applied in other jurisdictions for cost recovery. That is something that sets us apart from other jurisdictions. The cost to hire fields, in the scheme of things, is quite reasonable. I have had this discussion with organisations in the past. I have talked to them about the real cost of hiring ovals. I think they understand the situation. Yes, it would be nice for it to be less, but someone has to pay for it.
I am pretty certain Mr Doszpot is going to say—and he is going to take this policy to the election—“I’m going to cut the hire fees for community ovals.” He is not going to tell people that he will have to find that money from somewhere else. He might cut the direct hire cost, but he will just slip it onto the rates at the other end of the equation. He will slip it onto some other cost factor. It is a fairly disingenuous approach to make that case. You can put quite a few people on an oval and, as Minister Berry cited, it is a handful of dollars an hour to hire a field for training. I think it is not unreasonable. It is disingenuous to slip it onto some other part of the government cost schedule and say, “You’re not paying for it anymore.” Someone has to pay for it; it has to be paid for somehow.
I do not think—and it is what Mr Doszpot opened with—that ACT sporting facilities are in an appalling state. Individual facilities have got a bit old. Some of the sporting sheds around town are hitting a point of needing extra maintenance. There is a steady program in government. Certainly when I was sports minister I went to a number of facilities that had just been upgraded, and I know how much the community appreciated that. That work needs to continue. Facilities are ageing. We need to continue to upgrade them. The project that has just gone on to upgrade netball facilities across the city has made an enormous difference. It is a great example of the government investing very strategically to support those organisations. I know how much the clubs around town have appreciated that. I think that is a good example.
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