A Daley Labor Government will blow the final whistle to end the Berejiklian Government’s deliberate exclusion of the Wollongong Local Government Area from sports facility funding programs.

Under the Liberals, the Wollongong and Newcastle local government areas have been deliberately excluded from both the $100 million Regional Sports Infrastructure Fund and the $100 million Greater Sydney Sports Facility Fund.

Wollongong sporting clubs were denied access to sports facility grant funding programs.

These funds were established to create and improve sporting facilities to encourage more people to participate in sport.

Despite a backlash from the nearly 40,000 registered sporting participants in Wollongong the Liberals have refused to back down on their decision – local clubs weren’t even given a sporting chance when it came to sports facility funding.

A Daley Labor Government will end this exclusion by establishing a $6 million sports facility funding program specifically for facilities in the Wollongong and Newcastle local government areas.

The fund will provide grants ranging from $100,000 to $1 million for significant sports facilities in the region.

Under the Wollongong-Newcastle Sports Facility Fund, projects such as lighting for sporting fields, improvements to regional hubs or regionally significant facilities, access upgrades and complementary facilities to those already established, will be able to apply for a funding grant for improvements.

Proposals aligned with state/national sporting organisations facility strategies will be given priority.

This fund draws a clear distinction between a Daley Labor Government who will invest in sporting facilities in Wollongong and the Liberals who continue their specific and deliberate exclusion of the Wollongong local government area from sports facility funding programs.