Council to push for $3m in State Funding for Mildura Future Ready

Published on 26 July 2018

Mildura Rural City Councillors last night gave the green light for Council to apply for $3 million in Victorian Government funding for the Mildura South Regional Sporting Precinct (MSRSP).

Councillor for Recreation and Sport Glenn Milne said that a successful application under the Victorian Government’s Better Indoor Stadiums Fund would enable more work to be done if a staged approached was necessary to build the MSRSP.

The MSRSP is part of the broader Mildura Future Ready advocacy and funding strategy, which also includes the Mildura Motorsports and Community Precinct, Stage 2 of the Riverfront Redevelopment and advocacy for the return of Mildura’s passenger rail service.

Mildura Future Ready aims to make all four initiatives a reality in a bid to diversify the region’s economy, stimulating jobs growth and economic development – ultimately to improve the social and economic wellbeing of residents.

The Federal Government announced this month that Council was successful in applying for $10 million under the Building Better Regions Fund for the MSRSP as part of a staged approach to completing the project.

Under this approach, work could initially start on the indoor component of the complex, including six indoor courts, a kiosk and change rooms. The outdoor component would be completed in subsequent stages subject to funding availability.

Council has committed $6 million in its current budget for the project, requiring an additional $3 million in State Government funding to complete Stage 1.

Cr Milne said work could start on the MSRSP with the current funding available, but without the additional $3 million it would only be able to initially complete four of the six indoor courts.

“The good news is, with the funding we have already secured we could start work now, but ideally we’d prefer to have six courts in this first stage of works,” he said.

Cr Milne said Council was hopeful of receiving a response from the Victorian Government in September.

He said that while this new funding application was being made in the context of a staged approach, the preference was still to deliver the MSRSP in one single piece of work.

“The beauty of this plan is that we’re able to adapt as further funding opportunities present themselves, and with the Victorian Election almost upon us, there could well be additional funding commitments and opportunities allowing us to build even more of this project,” Cr Milne said.

“We’ve already seen an election commitment in recent days from our Member for Mildura Peter Crisp of $10 million should the Coalition be elected in November, and we’re continuing to talk with the current State Government, so we just need to keep working at it and maximise every funding opportunity.”

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