PM announces $15m for Port Adelaide Football Club’s Alberton Oval redevelopment
Prime Minister Scott Morrison came to town bearing gifts for the Port faithful on Friday, announcing a multimillion-dollar cash splash for a big build in Labor heartland.
SA News
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Port Adelaide Football Club’s plans to transform the historic Alberton Oval into a multi-sport precinct have been boosted with $15m of federal government funding.
The extra money has supercharged the club’s plans to power into the AFLW for the 2022-23 season.
Making the announcement at Alberton Oval, in Labor heartland, Prime Minister Scott Morrison declared the redevelopment would inspire future generations of South Australian sporting stars.
“As the club song goes, ‘it’s more than a sport,’ and that’s what this redevelopment is all about,” Mr Morrison told The Advertiser on Friday, during his first visit to Adelaide in eight months.
“The new precinct will ensure Alberton Oval continues to be the heart of the community and an inspiration for generations to come.”
Mr Morrison is believed to be only the second Prime Minister to visit Alberton Oval, after Gough Whitlam in the 1970s. It is located in Labor’s stronghold seat of Hindmarsh.
Port Adelaide’s redevelopment includes upgrades to the club’s ageing AFL indoor training facilities and the construction of two indoor basketball courts and an outdoor soccer pitch – both to be used by local junior sporting clubs.
The Advertiser understands construction of the main elements is planned to start in April or May next year and due to be completed by the end of 2022.
Port Adelaide Chairman David Koch said the $30m overhaul was crucial for its plans to enter the 2022-23 AFLW season: “Our existing facilities really do need an upgrade to keep up with the rest of the league.”
Mr Koch said the club raised another $15m through “supporters”, commercial earnings and some state government funding.
“We’re in the last group of AFL clubs to have an AFLW side – we’ve been having to rebuild the club in other areas between now and then,” he said.
“But now the time is right for us to step up.”
Finance Minister Simon Birmingham said the funding would help Port Adelaide “take (AFLW) by storm and inspire more girls and women across SA to have a crack at footy”.
Earlier on Friday, Mr Morrison fired the starting gun on the election campaign for SA’s only marginal seat of Boothby, where he was promoting candidate Rachel Swift.
After touring X-ray technology company Micro-X’s base at the Tonsley Innovation District, Mr Morrison visited the Brighton Surf Life Saving Club, where he told community members it was time the federal government “stepped back” from people’s lives.
“There’s been a need for Australians to have the government step forward in the past eighteen months or so … but that time is coming to a very near end,” Mr Morrison told the club.
“We will see the government step back … so you can step forward here in this club, on that beach, out there in environmental projects and community projects all over the electorate of Boothby.”
The Adelaide Crows also have $15m in federal funding on the table to help build a new HQ at either Thebarton or the Brompton Gasworks site.
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