The Victorian Coalition has pledged to tip in $20 million for the Shepparton Sports Stadium redevelopment should it be elected at this month’s state election.
Shadow Sport Minister Cindy McLeish was greeted by buckets on the floor underneath where the roof had been leaking in the past month as she toured the facility, while City of Greater Shepparton Mayor Shane Sali said the facility was unable to be used as an evacuation centre because it was below flood level.
Liberal candidate for Shepparton Cheryl Hammer made the funding announcement, echoing the pledge she made before the last Victorian election.
She said an upgraded facility would be the “jewel in the sports precinct crown”, and thanked Ms McLeish for coming to Shepparton for the announcement.
The proposed $60 million stadium rebuild would include six courts, one of which would be a 3000-seat show court, plus upgraded amenities and storage spaces.
The Federal Coalition pledged funding for the facility ahead of the May election but did not win government, meaning should the Victorian Coalition be elected, $25 million from the Federal Government would still need to be secured.
Council would fund the rest of the proposed rebuild.
“This project has been something that's been continually advocated for, so I thank you, Cindy, for coming along and actually supporting the announcement,” Ms Hammer said.
“Hopefully it will go a long way to having other commitments from federal and local governments as well so we can have this project realised.”
Nationals candidate for Shepparton Kim O’Keeffe said the current facility wasn’t up to scratch and Greater Shepparton was losing millions of dollars a year due to events taking their business elsewhere.
“Sports City, where we're standing at the moment, has amazing sporting facilities, but this is one that doesn't fit into that category and it's not fit for purpose,” Ms O’Keeffe said.
“We are missing out on major tournaments, so this needs to happen for our community.”
Ms McLeish said she had visited sporting facilities across the state and the Shepparton stadium, which should compare to facilities in Bendigo and Ballarat, was ”not the same standard”.
“Other cities have good equipment and there’s no reason why Shepparton can’t as well,” she said.
State Member for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell she had spent years advocating for the project, during which time the price of the rebuild had skyrocketed.
“We made this commitment at the last election, but the Labor state government has not been interested in actually funding this project,” Ms Lovell said.
“It’s gone from an $18 million project to $24 million to $34 million, and now all the way up to $60 million.”