Thousands of Territorians sign on to save badminton

The Northern Territory Badminton Association will tomorrow submit the single largest petition in NT Parliament history.

The petition, which calls on NT Government to “defer the eviction of badminton from the Sports House facility and agree to allocate funds for and facilitate construction of a new multi-purpose facility for badminton, table tennis and judo at Marrara during the 2014-2015 financial year as detailed in the NT Badminton Association New Venue Proposal September 2013”, has been signed by more than 12 300 Territorians in the past five weeks.

The petition will be presented to the Hon Gerry Wood MLA on the steps of Parliament House at 9:30am for submission to Parliament later that day.

And to make sure their plight is heard, a group of local badminton players have planned a “Badminton Flashmob” at the handover.

“People we meet are very surprised to hear that we’re being thrown out on to the street and that the NT Government is not proposing a replacement facility - they say that it’s very unfair,” NT Badminton volunteer Monica Beadman said.

“We have been absolutely overwhelmed with support from the people of Darwin, Palmerston and Rural Areas,” volunteer Helena Gibbons said.

“People have been incredibly sympathetic to our plight and we thank everyone for their fantastic support!”

The NTBA said it calls on the NT Government to listen to overwhelming community opinion and “give our sport a fair go and support our proposal for a replacement facility”.

 
For more information visit www.saveoursport.org.au or follow NT Badminton on www.facebook.com/SaveOurSportNT and twitter.com/SaveOurSportNT

Future of NT badminton to be debated

The home of badminton in Darwin will be discussed at the NT Badminton Association (NTBA) Annual General Meeting on Monday 25 November 2013.

The AGM will be held at Sports House, Waratah Crescent in Fannie Bay from 7:45pm and is open to the public.

Earlier this week the NT Government granted badminton an extension of tenure at Sports House until 31 March 2014 and proposed the NTBA take on a 5 year commercial lease on a warehouse in Woolner at a cost of $165,000 per year, shared equally between badminton and the government.

But NT Badminton’s Dr Di Symonds said the NTBA rejected the lease proposal as it was too expensive.

“A lease of that value would without doubt destroy the sport and leave us financially ruined,” she said.

“We understand that most sport associations in the NT have peppercorn lease arrangements with government, or pay negligible sums of money, if anything, to ensure sports develop and the community benefits.

“We're not aware of any major sport associations in the NT with a commercial lease.”

Dr Symonds said the NT government also asked NT Badminton to reassess using community halls located on school grounds.

“To be told to go back and look at school halls again is very frustrating and  especially since we outgrew school halls back in the late 1970s, which led to the CLP Government at the time to allocate badminton Sports House,” she said.

“Sports House itself doesn’t meet our current needs or plan for development and growth."

NTBA continues to urge the government to support its proposal for a new, multi-purpose facility at Marrara.

Dr Symonds said the facility would address badminton’s need for a new home and allow table tennis, gymnastics and judo to meet current demand.

“Sixteen years ago NTG came up with a plan for a new multi-purpose facility at Marrara, incorporating badminton, table tennis, basketball and netball but the project was shelved,” she said.

“But the timing is now right. Please help us to save our sport!”

For more information visit or follow NT Badminton on:

www.saveoursport.org.au

www.facebook.com/SaveOurSportNT

twitter.com/SaveOurSportNT