Crossbench cries foul as Sydney community sports facilities ‘left to rot’

Crossbench MPs are lining up to demand the Minns government roll out money for local sporting clubs across all 93 NSW electorates as they warn Labor against the temptation to pork-barrel funds ahead of the next election.

With the uncertainty brought by One Nation’s rise making the prospect of another hung parliament a possibility after the March election, independents including Northern Beaches MP Jacqui Scruby are beginning to flex their muscles.

After a series of scandals, most recently the federal government’s Local and Major Community Infrastructure Program, which the non-partisan Centre for Public Integrity found was heavily concentrated in Labor-held and marginal electorates, the NSW crossbench is calling for an “equitable” community sports grants scheme to be shared across electorates.

A coalition of crossbench MPs will on Thursday call on the government to spend $60 million to provide equal grant funding across electorates to upgrade sport facilities, which Scruby said in her electorate had been “neglected and left to rot for decades”.

“There’s definitely a sense that people feel they’ve been taken for granted up here, and maybe that is because we’ve previously been a safe seat,” she said.

“We want to restore trust in our institutions and governments [and] integrity in politics is core to what everyone wants.”

Among the clubs in Scruby’s electorate in need of funding is the Mona Vale Raiders Junior Rugby League Club.

Despite being the largest junior league club on the northern beaches, with more than 200 registered girls, the Raiders do not have suitable change rooms or a clubhouse. Mona Vale president Hamish McLean said because the 1960s-era change rooms can be seen into from outside, female players were forced to get changed in their cars before games.

“We’re a central part of the community, and all sporting clubs probably in Sydney and the state would say the same thing, and we just do not get supported enough,” he said.

The push for new community sports funding will come from a series of independent MPs including Scruby, Murray MP Helen Dalton, Wakehurst MP Michael Regan, Wollondilly MP Judy Hannam and Wagga MP Dr Joe McGirr.

They said the issue was significant enough in their electorates that it could end up affecting supply in the event of another hung parliament.

“If governments can find billions to fund elite sporting stadiums, surely they can find more money for grassroots sporting infrastructure,” Dalton said.

“Starstruck politicians need to spend less on the NRL and more on grassroots sports that bring communities together.”

The Minns government has faced repeated criticisms over its Local Small Commitments Allocation program, which gave $400,000 to each electorate before the 2023 election. However, only Labor MPs and candidates were aware of the fund.

In March, a parliamentary committee issued a scathing report in which the Greens MP Abigail Boyd called the program an “ill-conceived ploy” designed to give Labor candidates an advantage during the last election.

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