Opposition claims sporting grants are favouring Liberal and independent electorates – Government says others are not applying
Millions of dollars have been allocated by the Government to upgrade sporting facilities – but the Opposition points out that only one of the latest 15 recipients is in a Labor electorate.
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The State Government has granted 15 sporting clubs and councils $5 million to upgrade facilities as a post-COVID-19 stimulus – only one of which is in a Labor electorate.
The Opposition has renewed calls for greater transparency of the “Grassroots Football, Cricket and Netball Facility Program” they say is favouring more resourced clubs and councils in Liberal-held seats
But the Government says clubs and councils in Labor electorates are not applying to the program.
Earlier this month the Sunday Mail reported all 12 successful applicants from round two – announced in mid-April – were in Liberal and Independent electorates.
The recipients of this latest funding round, being announced on Wednesday, includes 11 clubs in Liberal-held seats, three in independent seats and one in Labor.
An independent panel from the Office for Recreation, Sport and Racing, which makes recommendations to the minister, assessed 55 eligible applications for this most recent round. Fifteen were from clubs in Labor-held seats.
Opposition sports spokeswoman Katrine Hildyard said the grants, which councils and clubs must match to be successful, were “skewed towards wealthier clubs”.
Ms Hildyard said just a handful of clubs in Labor electorates had received funding from almost 50 successful recipients over the last two years.
She said this was despite roughly half the state’s population living in these areas and some of the projects in this latest round already having secured considerable federal funding.
Sports Minister Corey Wingard said $17 million of grants – including $2 million from SANFL and the South Australia Cricket Association – had generated nearly $60 million of projects over the past two years.
Mr Wingard said sport had no boundaries and that clubs across the state attracted people from communities far and wide.
“You need to be in it to win it – if you don’t apply you can’t be successful.”
Data supplied by the government shows 24 per cent of applicants across all three rounds of the grassroots program since 2018 were from clubs and councils in Labor-held seats.
Each application is assessed for strategic justification by the SANFL, SACA and Netball SA.
SANFL CEO Jake Parkinson said an SANFL audit of facilities found football shares 87 per cent of its facilities with cricket clubs and 57 per cent with Netball.
“So it makes sense that these sports would work together on improving facilities to increase participation and inclusion,” said Mr Parkinson.