Warren Entsch (Leichhardt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Saturday, 30 August, I had the honour and the privilege of opening the redeveloped Jones Park. The redevelopment was achieved through a $3.5 million federal government grant and that was out of a total of $3.95 million for the total project. The funding enabled the construction of new fields, lighting, spectators' stands, a new clubhouse, a new building for training administration, plus a whole lot of work done under the ground that you do not see that makes these parks work.

Today I would particularly like to pay tribute to a number of people who helped make this redevelopment happen. First of all, the Jones family. They are the descendants of Jack and Harry Jones who generously gifted the land, a former dairy farm and piggery, at a peppercorn rate when they could have got a lot of money for it, but they had a vision for junior sports. Jack Seary, who is considered the father of junior rugby league in Cairns, was a driving force behind the establishment of this back in the 1960s.

Members of both the Seary and Jones families were there and certainly appreciated what we were able to achieve. Warren Pitt, the Chairman of Jones Park Board of Management, and Chris Van Dorssen, the President of the Cairns and District Rugby League Club, were also there. There was a great attendance from a whole raft of sporting identities from Cairns. I am certainly going to continue to work with Warren Pitt and Chris Van Dorssen, together with other levels of government, on continues funding for the project. We certainly need a grandstand. That is the next thing—(Time expired)