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Sport and Recreation | October 21, 2022

State-of-the-art addition pledged for Stawell’s Central Park

The Stawell community will receive a state-of-the-art electronic screen for Central Park under a Nationals and Liberals Government.

Member for Lowan and Deputy Leader of The Nationals Emma Kealy made the $100,000 announcement alongside representatives from the Stawell Athletics Club, Stawell Warriors Football Netball Club and Northern Grampians Shire Council at Central Park on Wednesday.

“The fantastic volunteers at these clubs do an incredible amount of work to maintain Central Park to the high standard required for hosting major events, including the iconic Stawell Gift at Easter each year. I am proud to stand with them to announce funding to bring this vital project to fruition,” Ms Kealy said.

“The Liberal and Nationals are committed to first-class sporting facilities in country areas, and we see a new electronic screen at Central Park as critical to bringing the facility into the modern era.

“The new screen will give the thousands of people who flock through the gates each year for the Gift and football and netball matches the opportunity to get a close-up view of the action from wherever they are in the park. It will also give user groups a way to display important information and allows them recognise their sponsors in a more prominent way.”

Ms Kealy said the clubs were proposing to mount the new screen on the old scoreboard at the north-western end of the oval.

“Central Park is one of the Wimmera region’s premier sporting grounds and this project will breathe new life into this multi-use community asset so it can continue to be an iconic hub for the Stawell community and our region for generations to come,” she said.

“Local sporting clubs are critical to the social fabric of our rural communities and are crying out for state government support to help them upgrade their facilities. Regional and rural Victoria have been ripped off by Labor for far too long.

“Last year just 13.4 per cent of the state’s infrastructure spend was directed to rural and regional Victoria, and only 11 per cent the year before.

“With 25 per cent of Victoria’s population living in rural and regional Victoria, we deserve no less than 25 per cent of the state’s new infrastructure budget.

“If elected to government in November, The Nationals regional infrastructure guarantee will ensure rural and regional Victorians get their fair share of infrastructure funding so projects like this can become a reality.”