STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Dr HAINES (Indi) (16:27): Well, the new netball courts at Sandy Creek Recreation Reserve are open. Sandy Creek is the MCG of the north and the scene of many famous country netball and football grand finals over the years. Funded with a half-million-dollar investment through the Commonwealth's Play Our Way program, the new netball courts are the culmination of tireless work and fundraising by the Tallangatta District Netball Association's 12 affiliated clubs, who contributed a further $20,000.

A special thank you to Kath Evans and Judy Luhrmann. Women and girls gain enormously from playing sport, and projects like this lift female participation while opening pathways into coaching, administration, board roles and executive leadership. But in our part of the world, community sports clubs are more than places to play.

When fire and flood hit, they become muster points, relief centres and the places that neighbours come to recover. That's why I hosted an online workshop recently to help clubs like Sandy Creek prepare for the upcoming Game On grants. Almost 100 locals from clubs right across Indi joined me to learn how to compete for energy upgrades and disaster resilience funding.

After the Upper Murray and Longwood fires, our clubs know exactly how much this funding matters. I'll keep doing everything I can to help our local sporting clubs right across Indi access Commonwealth support wherever it's available.