Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If you know about Albert Park you know we are home to the Grand Prix and we put our magnificent electorate of Macnamara on show to the world. Thousands of people come and enjoy our wonderful parklands, but, for the local people of McNamara, of Albert Park, South Melbourne, Port Melbourne, St Kilda, Middle Park and all the different surrounding suburbs, what we know about Albert Park is that that's the home for our community sport. That's where we go and spend our weekends playing basketball, football, soccer, baseball and rugby. Albert Park is the home of badminton, table tennis, swimming and gym. It is a place where people go, but is also home to sailing. We were so proud at the 2019 election to invest $5 million on upgrading community sport infrastructure in Albert Park.

The way we did that was not based on political views of what we want to invest in but rather what the community needed. We partnered with Parks Victoria and, as part of their master plan, we identified all of the different projects that were really necessary to improve access to the park; to ensure that young girls and women can have better access to better, appropriate facilities; to increase participation; and especially to make sure that they are accessible for the entire community. We are in the process of finishing this fantastic set of works that is improving lighting for local sporting clubs, including the South Melbourne Women's Football Club. We're improving change room access. We're building women's change rooms in a couple of different spots around the park. We are upgrading facilities as well.

I also had the absolute privilege of joining the Albert Park Yacht Club and the Albert Park sailing crew down at the Pontoon, where they joined the principal of Albert Park College for the launch of our new Pontoon. What this means, thanks to our investment in upgrading the Pontoon and the entry point into the lake, is that all of those public-school kids get to participate in this fantastic program of getting access to sailing on our beautiful Albert Park Lake. It now has disability access, so it's easier to get in and out of the water. It's safer, and more people can get in and out in a way that promotes more participation in this fantastic sport. I've been out on the water.

It is absolutely magnificent to be there in the middle of Melbourne, but what's really important is that it's there for the community. Albert Park College is one of the major users of the sailing facility, and we are so proud to support the students to be able to access this upgrade. Whether it's new lighting, improvements to the Pontoon or new change rooms, we are upgrading the community infrastructure because the community of Albert Park and the surrounding suburbs is what really matters, and we want to make sure they've got the best facilities possible.