Treasurer pledges $3 million for Rydalmere Football Club

The topic of women in sport has polarised the community but the Treasurer’s announcement in a marginal western Sydney seat was positive political football ahead of his visit to ‘Little India’.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has pledged $3 million towards women’s change rooms and health facilities at Rydalmere Football Club during a visit with Parramatta’s Liberal candidate Maria Kovacic on Wednesday.

While debate over transgender women in sport has dominated headlines following Warringah candidate Katherine Deves’ comments, Mr Frydenberg’s announcement was a clear winner at the 43-year-old club.

“This is a very proud club,’’ he said while surrounded by junior Lions female players.

“It started back in 1979 with just a couple of teams. Now it has 500 players, 2000 members and is going from strength to strength.

“Women’s football is very much on the rise and we need these new facilities, changing rooms, other facilities, physiotherapists and for training, and ahead of the World Cup for professional teams to use these facilities.’’

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Parramatta Liberal candidate Maria Kovacic announce $3 million for women's change rooms and health facilities at Rydalmere Lions FC.

Rydalmere FC president Peter Bacha has welcomed the funding for the 100 registered female players and said the funding would make the club’s grounds more of a drawcard as a training pitch and for trial games for the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

He said the Parramatta Eels women’s NRL team also trained on the club’s turf and the upgrades would bring women’s facilities in line with men at the club.

The boost is half of the $6 million required to complete the club’s overhaul including a canteen and offices for media and administration staff.

The announcement was made on the two-year-old $3.5 million FIFA-approved synthetic pitch and adjacent to the under-construction grass fields to be used for soccer and cricket.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Rydalmere FC president Peter Bacha with club member Massimiliano Andreotti at Rydalmere Lions FC.

In nearby Harris Park, no funding projects were revealed but Ms Kovacic’s corflutes dominated the streets of Little India, where she and the Treasurer visited businesses including Patel Brothers Supermarket and Tuli Jewellers ahead of supper at Punjabi Fusion.

Gurmeet and Jyoti Tuli, who run Tuli Jewellers, endorsed the new India-Australia trade agreement which allows duty-free access for more than 95 per cent of Indian goods including jewellery and textiles.

“We are very glad with that decision,’’ Mr Tuli said.

“We are dealing a lot with Mumbai, we are doing a lot of exports here.

“With the free trade, 7 per cent will come down, and that is a big amount.

“Due to Covid, it was a really hard time.’’

Jyoti Tuli and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in her Harris Park shop, Tuli Jewellery.

He thanked Mr Frydenberg for giving people “enough money to survive” and said business was bouncing back.

Asked how the government could alleviate the cost of living for Parramatta, which Labor holds by 3.5 per cent, Mr Frydenberg spruiked budget drawcards including fuel excise which would slash the cost of petrol from 44.2c to 22.1c a litre and cheaper medicines.

“All those measures are helping to provide cost of living relief for people here,’’ he said while walking through Wigram St.

He praised Ms Kovacic as an outstanding candidate.

“You can just see here on the street the level of support for her and it is very encouraging,’’ he said.

“I wouldn’t pre-empt how people will vote on the day but judging by the support she has from leading members of the Indian community, it’s very encouraging.’’

At Rydalmere FC, where Ms Kovacic returned to hold her campaign launch on Wednesday night, she said Parramatta’s migrant community could relate to her.

The 52 year old grew up in Canberra where her father worked on the Snowy Mountains Scheme after working as an opal miner and on sugar cane fields in North Queensland.

“I’m a child of migrants, I’m a first generation Australian, so I hope I’m an example of the benefits of a good migration policy and what a fantastic community we have here.

Parramatta Liberal candidate Maria Kovacic and Josh Frydenberg eat at Punjabi Fusion Lounge Bar & Restaurant, Harris Park.

“I love Parramatta and I love western Sydney and the diversity of it is something really special.

“I understand the migrant journey, it’s a shared experience and it’s something my own experiences reflects their own experience and vice versa.

“I don’t want to see restrictions. I think people live in western Sydney because they like to live in western Sydney. It’s a great place to live. I think what the lens needs to be on is the investment in infrastructure, investment in roads and transport to allow people to move more effectively in and out as opposed to saying ‘we have too many migrants in western Sydney’. That’s not my view.’’

Ms Kovacic moved to Sydney 20 years ago and co-founded Western Sydney Women business group, started a mortgage and finance business and is also on the steering committee for the Parramatta Eels’ Women@Eels.

The married mother-of-two lives in West Pennant Hills, just right on the boundary but has vowed to move to the electorate if elected.

“For most people in the community, in the electorate, they’re not worried about those AEC guidelines but I get the optics of it and it’s important,’’ she said.