Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about a local project in my electorate of Swan. It is the Perth Football Club grandstand, which, I must add, is anything but grand. First, I'd like to give a shout-out to the fantastic win by the West Coast Eagles in the AFL grand final. It was the best grand final in a few years, and I was incredibly proud to be a Western Australian. Collingwood played well in the first quarter, but the West Coast Eagles boys demonstrated an unwavering strength and stamina to pull ahead at the final siren. It was great to have the Prime Minister in Perth the following week, and the member for Curtin and I were delighted to take him to the West Coast Eagles club headquarters to congratulate the boys on an outstanding performance.

I'll return to the grandstand at Perth Football Club. I've spoken about this grandstand a number of times in the chamber. It's decrepit, riddled with concrete cancer and no longer fit for the purpose of holding not only the members of my community of Swan but those who support the Perth Demons as well. The grandstand is located at Lathlain Park. It is home to the Demons, and the West Coast Eagles football club is going to move their administration and training facilities to Lathlain Park. In 2016, the coalition government provided $13 million towards the $68 million development of Lathlain Park to support economic growth in the Victoria Park area. It's a fantastic project, and it's something our whole community is very proud of. I will add that it's coming along very nicely, and the West Coast Eagles expect to move there early next year.

The project has a community focus to ensure my constituents will have access to some of the incredible facilities going up in the new facility. It is also supporting great organisations such as the Special Air Services Resources Trust and the Wirrpanda Foundation. That brings me back to the grandstand. It was originally built in 1959, a year after I was born. I've just had my 60th, to save you the maths.

Nicolle Flint (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You're holding it together!

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, I'm holding it together—thank you, Nicolle! But the grandstand has become an eyesore amongst the Lathlain Park development and is unfit to hold the growing communities of Victoria Park, Lathlain and, more broadly, Swan. I worked closely with the Perth Football Club CEO, Marty Atkins; club president, Daryle Mann; and the West Coast Eagles to discuss the needs of the club and the community. With more than 10,000 kids involved in sport activities at the facility on an annual basis, it's time to demolish the old grandstand and build a new standalone facility which will take the Perth Football Club and Lathlain into the next century.

I look forward to continuing to work closely with both clubs, the community and the Town of Victoria Park to ensure the growing needs of our community are addressed. I'll be working hard in my electorate to deliver on local issues like the Perth Football Club grandstand. It was convenient I caught up with the Treasurer for Western Australia, Ben Wyatt, last week. I tried to get him on board to support the new Perth Football Club grandstand.

John McVeigh (Groom, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I call the next member, I want to state that, if no member present objects, constituency statements may continue for a total of 60 minutes, which will take us to 11 o'clock.