20 July 2011

Boomanulla Oval is closed

| pink little birdie
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Boomanulla Oval has closed its gates according to the ABC.

It’s sad and the ACT community has lost one of it’s longest running Indigenous Community Organisations.

It will be sadly missed by the ACT Indigenous community.

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“But Sports Minister Andrew Barr says the ACT Government is not in a position to step in and fund the organisation”

But they happily fund lots of other things, most of dubious value to anyone (sculptures anyone? roads reduntant as soon as they’re complete … the list goes on into infinity). Surely this a pretty worthwhile cause and the sums involved not that great

Shame on the cmth government though … this must be their ‘epic fail #632323’, and that’s just this year’s tally

alaninoz said :

As mentioned above, funding is competitive. No idea what was rated more highly than Boomanulla, but someone thought they are more worthy.

Oh, I understand the realities of the world, and clearly if the program had been funded for many years, it was the sort of program that should have found a home as part of something which is supposed to be ongoing, and not in a position where this kinda thing could happen.

p1 said :

It is all well and good to say “Expecting non-recurrent funding to be continued to be awarded year after year is never going to end well”, but I would take the alternate view, and say clearly this is exactly the sort of service that governments should fund ’cause they wouldn’t exist otherwise?

Unless the government thinks that something dodgy was going on, or that they were not getting value for money, but I see no suggestion of that?

As mentioned above, funding is competitive. No idea what was rated more highly than Boomanulla, but someone thought they are more worthy.

It is all well and good to say “Expecting non-recurrent funding to be continued to be awarded year after year is never going to end well”, but I would take the alternate view, and say clearly this is exactly the sort of service that governments should fund ’cause they wouldn’t exist otherwise?

Unless the government thinks that something dodgy was going on, or that they were not getting value for money, but I see no suggestion of that?

pink little birdie2:29 pm 21 Jul 11

the National Indigenous Times will be covering the Boomanulla Raiders home game on Saturday.

since the Aboriginal community feels so strongly about this, I’m sure they’ll raise the needed money themselves, and the various office-holders will work as volunteers. Like every other community who wants somehting that the government won’t fund. We’ll see this really take off. Yep.

(crickets)

milkman said :

Any chance the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community could fund it themselves (or even organise some fund raising from external sources)?

It would help to have some idea of the required amount, but I would love to contribute to a “Save Boomunulla” fund.I reckon most of the local mob would also

Any chance the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community could fund it themselves (or even organise some fund raising from external sources)?

Has Natasha Cole just jumped ship to Prime Ministers from Infrastructure Australia?

You know, the miserable creatures who decided a toll should be applied to the Majura Parkway.

The bottom line is increasingly more important than social responsibility.

Boomanulla is so much more than an oval, it is also a focal point of community gatherings and events, like the recent Naidoc family day. It is also a safe place for kids to learn skills, and talent to be fostered.

Sure, their pecuniary situation might have been shaky, however an organisation that contributes so much to community should not be judged on that alone.

I’m sad for the loss of such a great facility, and the loss of social capital it’s closure brings.
I hope there’s something we can do to save it

If the Corporation’s finances were so shaky that not receiving this grant means that it can’t stay afloat, then that would surely have been a large red flag in the assessment process…

And sure enough:

10.4 FINANCIAL VIABILITY AND BACKGROUND CHECKS
Office for Sport reserves the right, in its absolute discretion at any time in the evaluation and
selection process, to examine the financial records of the applicant,…

And of course the kicker, repeated a number of times throughout the document:

Because of this level of competition it is very important that applicants do not assume that they will receive funding simply because they have in the past and that they provide relevant, detailed information in response to each question in the submission.

And:

Your application could be assessed as suitable against all of the selection criteria yet not receive any funding due to the competitive nature of the program. Applicants must not only meet each selection criteria but perform favourably in comparison to many other suitable applicants.
Any complaints in relation to the ISRP will be managed within the framework titled Funding and Procurement Complaints Procedure currently located at: http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/pfps?complaintsprocedures

It’s unfortunate for them, but not “the beginning of the end of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander self determination” nor is it “pushing Indigenous affairs back to the white Australia policy”.

This is quite sad actually. Shame Boomanulla oval couldn’t find recurrent funding. it’s such a good sporting organization especially for indigenous youth who are often reluctant to enter mainstream services.
Hope something changes and the gates reopen. I’m sure with enough indigenous voices out there changes will be made.

I didn’t even know this oval existed until not long ago when on an agonisingly long and solitary bus ride. Seems like a really nice oval though.

What does this have to do with PM&C? It’s run by the Office of Sport, within the Department of PM&C.

Guidelines for the program/funding are here: http://www.dpmc.gov.au/sport/funding/indigenous/docs/2011-12_isrp_prog_info_guidelines.pdf and here: http://www.dpmc.gov.au/sport/funding/indigenous/funding.cfm

What does this have to do with the dept of prime minister and cabinet? Wouldnt grants like these be administered by treasury, sport & rec or similar? Was this ovals sole existance owed to this grant, to the point that the lack of this grant means instant closure?

How many sporting clubs in the ACT are run like this, with a shoestring budget, dependant upon one single government grant for their existance, after nearly 30 years?

Expecting non-recurrent funding to be continued to be awarded year after year is never going to end well.

This is sad news. Bomber Ingram has put a lifetime of work into Boomanulla and I know other hard working members of the aboriginal community that have tried very hard to promote the sporting facilities there. I wish I could have given them more support. I don’t want to speculate what might become of the real estate but home units spring to mind. How about the Canberra Labor Clubs divert some of that $600K they give to their owners to get re-elected every 4 years to help Bomber out out?

Very strange decision for a Labor government, especially one propped up by The Greens. No reasons given for cutting their funding, no attempt to justify the decision just a short, curt letter telling them to suck eggs. There doesn’t even appear to be any avenue of appeal, either. Not a good look at all.

What a shame – I’ve heard good things about Boomanulla. Perhaps Katie can pick up the slack?

colourful sydney racing identity4:39 pm 20 Jul 11

Would be a good idea to proof read media releases before sending them out.

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