Monday 30 November 2015:

Today I again met the Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development, the Hon. Michael McCormack MP, to re-emphasise the case for the Frankston Basketball Redevelopment project to be granted funding under the National Stronger Regions Fund (NSRF).

Assistant Minister McCormack has carriage of the highly competitive NSRF, and is expected to finalise and announce recipients under this round of the fund in coming weeks.

Frankston City Council applied for $4.9 million Commonwealth funding to go toward the $12.5 million redevelopment project.

I used today’s ministerial meeting to expand on and reiterate how the project will address disadvantage in our community, which is the most important criteria to be successful in obtaining funding.

By the end of the meeting, I felt confident Minister McCormack understood the significance of the project for our region, and how it would not only provide an expanded venue for district, State, national league and wheelchair basketball, but also address broader community social and economic disadvantage in a number of ways.

This includes job creation, and improved educational, employment and health outcomes through a number of programmes to be run from the facility. I also explained how it could be used as a disaster event/emergency service response and care centre.

I thank Frankston City Council and the Frankston and District Basketball Association for meeting me on Friday to discuss these programmes in detail so I could again present the case today effectively.

I am extremely excited about the possibilities this project presents for our region, and hope the Commonwealth Government will be a significant contributor.

For more information on how the project would address economic and social disadvantage, go to: http://bit.ly/BCRNSRF