‘Slap in the face’: funding backflip puts regional Australia’s child athletes at risk.

Australian Community Media

Despite first bring promised a new, $53m sports hub all the way back in 2018, child athletes in the Dubbo region have been left behind by the New South Wales Government’s decision to backflip on the project. With no replacement for their ageing existing facilities, locals are saying they feel like they’ve been “slapped in the face”.

Transcript

00:00Having the Sports Hub promised for us and it's still not happening is really a slap in the face.

00:05Don't build it, but we did a sod turn. What do you want, a basketball centre? We've already done the sod turn.

00:10Exposed nails cutting children's knees. Facilities to Porta host home matches.

00:15Is that something that would be acceptable in Coggera, Sydney or anywhere else in the sporting nation?

00:20Well, 12 months on from the NSW Government's decision to revoke funding for a Dubbo Sports Hub,

00:25that's exactly what the tens of thousands of young athletes in the west of the state have just learnt to live with.

00:29It's really a slap in the face, but us kids out here in the country, we're really resilient and we always wish for the best.

00:36The Dubbo Sports Hub was first announced all the way back in 2018 as the $44 million Western Institute of Sport.

00:43It would be fit with world-class tennis, basketball, netball, indoor cricket and gym facilities.

00:50It would have replaced Dubbo's new decrepit existing complexes and had two sod turnings, a location change,

00:56then both council and state funding pulled, leaving the town in limbo.

01:01In a region that produces stars like Isaiah Yeo, Matt Burton and Glenn McGrath,

01:06locals say shelving the project risks the next generation.

01:09Lauren Jackson, she's an amazing basketball player, she comes from Albury Regional NSW again

01:15and I think with proper sports facilities that would just get Dubbo one step closer to getting elite athletes.

01:24When rep season's in, we're travelling at least twice every month just to play our rounds of basketball

01:31and that puts a lot of financial pressure on families with Dubbo and in our community.

01:36Saying just three or four courts, it's not a huge ask, but when there's all the politics behind it,

01:41I think it can get a bit confusing when we just need to think about the picture.

01:45With no modern venue, long-running events like the State Indoor Police Cricket Championships

01:49have already left Dubbo, taking thousands of valuable tourism dollars with them.

01:54Basketball and netball groups have told me they would be satisfied with three to four safe,

01:59full-size indoor courts, but ask for basic facilities from a region that's home to 125,000 people

02:06shouldn't seem that big, yet the Minister for Regional NSW, Tyra Moriarty,

02:11and the Premier, Chris Minns, still haven't visited the town in the 12 months since they took that money away

02:16on December 18, 2024.

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