MP pledges to fill the gaps for netball

JUME 2, 2016: THE cracks are showing at the Mackay Netball courts in South Mackay as the aging surface deteriorates, and I have pledged to work with the club to seek funding for improvements if I am re-elected as the Member for Dawson.I heard the concerns of Mackay Netball Association president Lyn Law and secretary Jenny Moohin during an inspection of the courts this week.Mackay Netball has a large and active membership base, and the club could grow even further if it had more courts to accommodate the 1400 plus players.The other issue for them is that the courts are cracking up, and the surfaces on some of the current courts are pretty sub-standard; they’re aging and they need to be completely redone.Mackay Netball also wants to build another eight courts so they can cater for the big demand for netball because they are currently playing until 10pm at night to get all their teams through. This is not ideal, particularly for juniors.The necessary upgrade is a $1.2 million job.The club has been very diligent in raising money for this and they also attracted a Mackay Regional Council grant last year, but they need more money to get this big job done, and I have given them a pledge that I will get behind this and to see if we can secure some other Federal funding through programs like the Stronger Regions Fund.Mackay Netball Association president Lyn Law said the club had been trying to attract funding for the past six years.“We resurfaced our current courts six years ago, but the actual base of the courts is 20 years old and we now need to redo them completely to ensure we have a quality playing surface,” Ms Law said.“We have 74 school teams who use our courts and 1400 members, so we’ve well and truly outgrown our facilities. An upgrade is essential so we can cater for the growing demand.”