Considering the crap the ACT Government can find money for it’s somewhat surprising Andrew Barr has publicly gone cap in hand to the Federales for $2.5 million to light Manuka Oval:
Today I am calling on the Federal Government to contribute funding towards the upgrade of Manuka Oval.
The call comes after a number of recent major funding announcements by the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, for upgrades to other sporting facilities such as the Sydney Cricket Ground, Adelaide Oval and Bellerive Oval in Hobart.
It is now time for the Federal Government to invest in upgrading Manuka Oval, by providing funding for the installation of lights at the oval.
The ACT Labor Government is committed to upgrading Manuka Oval so it can better cater for Australian football and cricket.
The introduction of broadcast quality lighting at Manuka Oval would provide opportunities for the ACT to attract competitions such as the Twenty20 Big Bash and early-season AFL night matches.
It is a reality of Australia’s modern sporting landscape that many matches are played at night, and without lights at Manuka Oval the ACT is constrained in how many early-season AFL night matches it can host and constrained from hosting Big Bash matches.
In recent meetings with Senator for the ACT and Minister for Sport Kate Lundy I have pushed the ACT’s case for federal funding towards lights at Manuka Oval.
Preliminary assessments indicate the lights would cost about $5m. The exact cost would be subject to detailed design work. I am calling on the Gillard Government to contribute about half of the cost.
If they come to the party we can expect to see them attracting the bogongs by 2014.
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