12 July 2012

A sport based election?

| johnboy
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There’s been no announcement published but Labor types are furiously re-tweeting Joy Burch’s delightful staffer Erin Bennett tweeting about promises to spend money on local sport facilties.

https://twitter.com/ErinBennett19/status/223266926871318529

It’s a shame they let so many ovals fall into wrack and ruin during the drought.

The Liberals too are running hard on local sport (it’s local and sportos skew tory) so we could have a bit of a race on to win the trackpant vote.

In the meantime let us enjoy policy announced by staffers in 140 character bursts.


UPDATE 12/07/12 15:49: The announcement and policy have now arrived:

“Today we have announced $26 million to upgrade local sports grounds and to build new facilities across the Territory, which include:

• Southside synthetic football fields at Melrose High School – $5.1 million
• Kambah District Playing Fields and Hawker District Playing Fields irrigation and surface improvements – $3.4 million
• Restoration of Spence and Torrens neighbourhood ovals – $2.6 million
• Greenway Enclosed Oval Infrastructure Improvement Fund – $500,000
• Southside synthetic athletics track – site selection and construction funding – $4.5 million
• New Northside indoor sports centre – site selection for a new centre – $50,000


UPDATE 12/07/12 17:15: The Liberals’ Zed Seselja is not lightly going to give up his sports based position and is hitting back:

“We’re still waiting for the Gungahlin pool promised at the last election, and the election before that. There was great fanfare about how committed ACT Labor was to community sports, but work on that pool hasn’t even started, and now won’t be finished until at least 2015.

“We’re still waiting for the Lyneham Sports precinct which was due to be finished last year and now won’t be finished until 2014.

“Every election, ACT Labor promises to focus on local sports facilities, and every year in between they simply fail to deliver.

“The Canberra Liberals are committed to improving sports participation and facilities from the grass roots up, not from the grand plans down.

“That’s why last year we committed to grants to upgrade existing sporting facilities and to halving the cost of junior sports for all families.

“It’s expected ACT Labor would copy Canberra Liberals’ policies, but you only have to look at their track record to see they can’t be expected to deliver,” Mr Seselja concluded.

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cranky said :

And which party is going to announce a motorsport facility?

I understand that Chik Henry has a proposal for one that is wholly government funded but run by a commercial organisation with the assistance of large annual six figure grants.

c_c said :

“fighting the good fight for the good side in ACT politics”

You know between Erin Bennet and Tony Hodges, it’s not hard to see why political staffers are so despised and why those they serve don’t do better. T

i went to the same college as this girl so needy and wierd. i see some things never change.

“fighting the good fight for the good side in ACT politics”

You know between Erin Bennet and Tony Hodges, it’s not hard to see why political staffers are so despised and why those they serve don’t do better. The smartest leaders in business and politics surround themselves with those who don’t always swallow the cool-aid.

On the actual topic though, doesn’t this sound a little bit, alright, a lot like Anna Bligh’s crazy election promise of a Winter Olympics Training Facility in Brisbane? Oh history, why can’t you stop repeating yourself?

And which party is going to announce a motorsport facility?

I’m pretty sure that almost every one of those projects has been previously announced.. Do they really expect us to re-elect them when they treat the community like idiots by attempting to recycle the same projects and plans every year and just change the year? I’ve lost count of the number of these plans that they have recycled in the past 5+ years.

the canberra times take on this story seems to assume that Labor will win the election and deliver on this promise. Without the riot-act I would have assumed this was a government announcement and not an election promise

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