Sports rorts ‘mud’ should not tarnish Meander Valley
Photo by Mike Moores
From left, Westbury Bowls Club members Gaylene McNab (Secretary), David Frost (President) and Leon Archer (Assistant Secretary) are looking forward to greener ‘pastures’ very soon.
By Sharon Webb
WESTBURY’S LAWN bowlers and Deloraine’s netball players benefited from the 2018 so-called ‘Sports Rorts’ grants that claimed the scalp of Nationals deputy leader Senator Bridget McKenzie. While Senator McKenzie and the Federal Government unsuccessfully tried to fend off accusations of pork-barrelling via $100,000 in sports grants targeted at Australia’s marginal electorates, lawn bowlers in Westbury acquired new clubhouse heating and water systems from their third-round $235,000 grant. Currently they are also anticipating the installation of a new synthetic bowling green costing $189,000. Meander Valley Council also successfully applied for $50,000 from the first round of the 2018 Community Sport Infrastructure Grant Program and now Deloraine’s netballers are playing happily on two courts, installed in 2019 at the Deloraine Community Complex.
Auditor general Grant Hehir saw no legal grounds for Senator McKenzie’s involvement in distribution of the grants, listed on a notorious colour-coded spread-sheet. He found that funding decisions for each of the three rounds were not informed by clear advice and were inconsistent with the program guidelines. A different approach was adopted for each round. Underlining the political nature of the grant allocation, in January the ABC reported that Westbury’s grant was championed by then Tasmanian Nationals Senator Steve Martin, who announced the funding on 30 April 2019, alongside the party’s Lyons candidate Deanna Hutchinson. At the time, Senator Martin described Westbury Bowls Club as a valued community asset. ‘I took the issue to Canberra and brought the Sports Minister and Deputy Nationals leader [Senator Bridget McKenzie] to Westbury to visit the club.’ The senator was supporting Ms Hutchinson’s bid for the federal seat of Lyons, after the spectacular campaign implosion of Liberal candidate Jessica Whelan, caused by her Islamaphobic posts on social media.
The serenity of the Westbury Bowls Club and its 65 members has been ruffled by the national controversy over the sports grants. Member David Toohey, a greenkeeper by trade, said, ‘We’re sad this has tarnished our club. Mud sticks. ‘This is a brilliant club and we’re sure that having a new green will draw new members.’ Deloraine-based club president, David Frost, is also on the defensive. ‘All we did was put in an application to Sports Australia and we got it. There were strict criteria for the grant and we were spot-on with our application,’ he said. ‘We are a small club with not enough money. The water here was so bad that you didn’t need to put coffee powder in the cup – it was already brown. ‘The clubhouse was freezing in winter and last year the green was so poor it had to be closed down for a while. ‘The idea with this grant is to make it better for people playing here.’
Bowls club secretary, Gaylene McNab from Latrobe, said the club’s water had been bad because the pipes were corroded. ‘We couldn’t get funding from anywhere else. We’ve
fundraised $60,000 ourselves and that will go to the cement surround for the new green.’ By winter this year, Westbury bowlers and visiting teams will be using a new synthetic green requiring no pesticides, fertilisers, rolling, scarifying or top-dressing labour from the club’s members. The Franklin Street green will be open to community users, including children’s sports and the local croquet club.
