STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Mr CALDWELL (Fadden—Opposition Whip) (13:33): Last week, in this chamber, I spoke about the grassroots sporting clubs in my electorate—volunteer run, community backed clubs—the Coomera Colts, the Helensvale Pacific Pines Hawks, the Legends Football Club and the Southport Labrador Cricket Club, who are all seeking shovel-ready funding support to build inclusive changeroom facilities, particularly for female players.

This was triggered because on 2 June I wrote to Minister Wells, the Minister for Sport, asking for her bipartisan support to progress projects that I had committed to prior to the recent election. Fortunately, after she hadn't responded for 51 days, my speech seemed to have awoken the minister from her slumber, and she then replied to my letter 56 days after I wrote it.

What did she say? Well, she didn't mention a willingness to meet the clubs or to meet with me and didn't even really offer a way that this funding could be achieved through her office. She simply pushed us to a government website and suggested that they apply for future grants.

In fact, one thing that I thought was particularly interesting was the paragraph where it says that she 'encourages the clubs to consider fundraising through the Australian Sports Foundation' and that 'all donations of $2 or more are tax deductible'. Well, those $2 donations won't go a huge way to the $1.5 million project, the $550,000 project— (Time expired)