On Thursday 27th of June 2013 Greater Shepparton City Council received a letter from The Hon Catherine King - Federal Minister for Regional Services, confirming that the $7.19 million Regional Development Australia Fund bid for the Regional Sports Precinct Development was successful. Upon receiving this notification, Council set the wheels in motion to shore-up the signing of the agreement.
"While we were extremely disappointed that we didn't receive the final sign off we are encouraged that any incoming government will follow through the commitment to this project", suggests Greater Shepparton City Council Mayor Jenny Houlihan. "The development of the sports precinct will see between 23,000 and 35,000 people per annum use the facilities, while the construction stage of the project will create 85 new jobs and is expected to increase regional economic output by $28 million. Long term, additional jobs in turf and facility management will be created, with a total of 135 positions to be generated directly or indirectly. With such a major economic benefit to our community and our region you would have to question any government unwilling to fulfil the commitment."
Council was extremely surprised to read that our local member Dr Sharman Stone MP is indicating that if the Coalition is successful at election time that they wouldn't automatically commit to the Regional Sports Precinct Development. This is very interesting considering that Dr Stone has been a strong advocate for the project, including writing a letter of support for the funding bid. Dr Stone is currently claiming in a television election campaign that one of her strengths has been an ability to attract funding to our region. If this is the case then Council is wondering why Dr Stone is not able to guarantee funding for a project of such significance.
As part of the Regional Development Australia Fund the Federal Government requires that a signed Funding Agreement is in place, including an agreed schedule of works. This agreement sets out the terms and conditions under which the grant funding is provided.
The draft Funding Agreement was received by Council on June 25, 2013, with a teleconference being held with the Regional Development Programs Branch on July 4, 2013 to negotiate terms and conditions of the agreement. As part of Council process the CEO needs to be authorised to sign the agreement. A Special Meeting of Council was held on Tuesday 9 July 2013 to authorise the CEO to sign the funding agreement, with the final funding agreement submitted to Regional Development Programs Branch on 11 July 2013.
"Council has worked diligently not only to get the initial funding application submitted but also to ensure that the agreement was signed on the dotted line prior to the Federal Government going into caretaker mode", explains Mayor Houlihan. "Any suggestion otherwise is misinformed and inaccurate. "
"In recognising the importance of this project for the Greater Shepparton community we clearly moved mountains to try to ensure that the agreement was signed off well within the required timeframes", contends Mayor Houlihan. "We were advised by Regional Development Programs Branch on July 22 that the agreement had passed through all quality assurance steps and that it was ready for signing by the Minister King. We even anticipated that the Federal Government may go into caretaker mode and made urgent contact with Mr Peter Bath from the Regional Development Programs Branch aiming to escalate the agreement sign off. It was at this point we were advised that despite all the documentation being completed within the required timeframe the Minister would not be signing off on the agreement ahead of the election", explains the Mayor.
With Dr Stone being fully aware of the unsigned agreement and the forthcoming caretaker period, Council is questioning why she did not actively pursue the sign off of the agreement. Dr Stone had the opportunity to directly approach the Federal Minister to expedite the sign off process; however this opportunity was clearly overlooked and possibly not a priority.
In being notified that the agreement was not being signed, on August 15 Council advised project partners, sporting user groups and the broader community regarding the current status of the project.
Following the election on September 7, 2013 as a matter of priority Council will be working with the incoming government to ensure the fruition of this critical project.
