Stadium manager Chris Evans, events coordinator Joanne Savage and stadium attendant Jordan Magoci. Photo: Supplied.
After 106 years without an Australian prime minister’s visit to Griffith, our current head of government will be making his second visit to the town in just two months.
Anthony Albanese will formally open the new Griffith Regional Sports Precinct at 9:30 am this Saturday (29 October).
The $31 million project has seen the Westend grounds and stadium overhauled and transformed into a multi-purpose sports precinct, which includes seven indoor basketball courts with seating for more than 1000 people, seven all-weather netball courts, a new synthetic athletics track with new lighting, a new synthetic turf hockey pitch and a new grandstand.
Mr Albanese will launch what’s called a “We love our Westend” open day, where residents are invited to view the facilities and participate in free sporting activities including athletics, basketball, hockey and netball. He’ll be joined by Olympic sprinter Anneliese Rubie-Renshaw, Basketball Australia head coach David Herbert, as well as representatives from professional sporting teams such as the Canberra Raiders, Sydney Kings and Sydney Flames.
“The work being undertaken at Westend will see the area become a state-of-the-art sporting arena, allowing for increased participation from local sporting groups, schools and organisations, as well as providing opportunities to host major local and regional sporting events and carnivals,” Griffith Mayor Doug Curran said.
“I would like to invite the community to save the date for October 29 and come along to see what the precinct will offer – try out some of the sports on offer, meet sporting heroes, and take home some goodies.
”This will be a great opportunity to see and try first hand some of the sports that will be on offer, and have a chat to representatives from Griffith Basketball Association, Griffith Hockey Association, Griffith Netball Association and Griffith Little Athletics. It will be a fun day and not one you will want to miss.”
Mr Albanese, who is of Italian heritage, became the first sitting Prime Minister to visit the predominately Italian-origin town in August, when he was the keynote speaker at the Bush Summit event, which brought together politicians and business leaders to discuss regional issues. Before the summit, the closest thing the town had to a prime ministerial visit was 50 years ago when Gough Whitlam addressed the Yoogali Club in 1972, just days before he took office.
Malcolm Turnbull visited the town as a journalist in 1977, when he wrote an article about Griffith called “pot capital of Australia”, but that was well before he secured the nation’s top job.
Anthony Albanese with Daily Telegraph editor Ben English at the Bush Summit in Griffith. Photo: Griffith City Council.
In August, Mr Albanese’s spokesperson said: “He is looking forward to returning to Griffith … there is nowhere better for the summit to be held than in the nation’s food bowl and he is looking forward to trying out some local produce and popping into some local businesses.”
On that occasion, the national Labor leader was supposed to join local Labor Party members for a meal at the legendary Malcolm’s Chinese Restaurant, but a delayed flight prevented that from happening.
The new Griffith Sports Precinct was first announced in 2018. It has been jointly funded by the state, federal and local governments.
“Our vision is becoming a reality. These developments will allow Griffith to become a major sporting city, helping us develop a wide variety of sport programs and competitions that will benefit the entire region,” then Griffith mayor John Dal Broi said.
The free open day is being funded via a grant from the Australian Sports Commission’s Regional Sports Event Fund. Given limited parking, a free shuttle bus service will operate from the Gordon carpark (opposite Foodworks supermarket) and Pioneer Estate every 15 minutes.
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