Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to rise to say that the coalition government's new Stronger Communities Program is underway. It is an important part of our positive plan to help build a better future for the Central Coast. The program is designed to help build stronger communities by giving assistance to local organisations for small capital projects that help others and deliver real and sustainable social benefits. Each electorate will receive funding of $150,000 per year, over two years, to support community projects and the grant process is underway and open now. What this means for local organisations in Robertson, like sport clubs or progress associations, is that they can now apply for grants from $5,000 to $20,000 as long as they match it on a dollar-for-dollar basis. To be eligible they need to be a community based not-for-profit organisation in their own right that is not a legal entity or owned by government.

To help identify our local organisations which need this support we have established the Robertson consultative committee and they will be working hard to determine which proposals are progressed to the department. We have an outstanding committee who met for the first time last week, at Chertsey Primary School in Springfield, to discuss how the program will help ensure we do encourage stronger communities on the Central Coast. I would like to place on record my appreciation to our committee members, including Chertsey Primary School Principal Toni Skinner—and thank her for hosting us; our Gosford City Council citizen of the year, Paul Tonkin; the CEO of Ettalong Diggers, Bill Jackson; Greg Mawson, the president of the Gosford RSL Sub Branch; and representatives of the Central Coast Community Council, including Ed McCarthy, John Roberts and Kim Hopkins.

When we met last week, the committee talked about how proposals could include opportunities for sporting facility upgrades, like new scoreboards, seating, new turf, fit-out of change rooms, a new canteen, new lights, upgraded water systems, or perhaps much needed safety equipment for community based sporting clubs. There could be the potential to fit-out community centres, or grants could also be made available to help groups make sure they have got the necessary machinery and equipment to better serve our community, including items such as barbeques or lawnmowers.

I am calling for community groups right across my electorate to engage with this program. In particular, we want to hear from organisations that can help build stronger infrastructure to benefit our community. You only have to think back to April when the Central Coast was battered by a devastating storm. Thousands of families were left without power for many days and they had massive clean-up bills because of the significant damage. Of course, we have already seen an extraordinary response but this recovery is ongoing. We would love to hear from others who are involved in this and may be looking at things like new generators for community centres or who are involved with crisis and emergency response youth programs that are supporting and inspiring our region.