Members of
the NT Badminton Association have vowed to stay at Sports House in Fannie Bay
until a new venue for their sport is secured.
The motion
“…that members of NTBA only agree to leave Sports House when the NT Government
identifies an alternative single venue accommodation solution that is
acceptable to NTBA and a binding agreement is made” was passed at the NTBA
Annual General Meeting yesterday.
The AGM,
which was likely to be the NTBA’s last at Sports House, focused on badminton’s
future after the NTBA rejected the NT Government’s offer of a 5 year commercial
lease on a property in Woolner last week.
Independent
Member for Nelson Gerry Wood MLA , ALP Member for Johnston Ken Vowles MLA, and
a number of concerned local Fannie Bay residents participated in the spirited
and emotional AGM.
“The NT
Government doesn’t seem to recognise the disastrous consequences that closure
of Sports House, and the absence of a replacement facility, will have on our
sport,” NT Badminton President Rodney Pearce said at the meeting.
“All of us
at this meeting know that without a new home the sport is stuffed.”
Gerry Wood
stated, “The Government sometimes has its priorities wrong. If it’s real about
people’s health then the facilities that are required should be made available.
They need to re-prioritise their land plans and allow NT Badminton’s new
facility to be established before the Sports House site is sold and developed.
I don’t think that it’s too hard.”
The NTBA
said it will continue to impress the urgency of its need upon the NT Government
and request that it allocates funding in the May 2014 Budget for construction
of a new multi-purpose facility for Badminton, Judo and Table Tennis at
Marrara.
“The
proposal that NTBA has submitted is excellent,” Ken Vowles MLA said, adding
that “the cost of the proposed facility is good value as it incorporates facilities
for a number of sports”.
“While the
ball is obviously in NT Government’s court, we’re happy to sit down with them
to work together to come up with a solution,” NT Badminton’s Rodney Pearce
said.
For
more information visit www.saveoursport.org.au
or follow NT
Badminton on: www.facebook.com/SaveOurSportNT
and twitter.com/SaveOurSportNT.
