00:00Having the Sports Hub promised for us and it's still not happening is really a slap in the face.
00:05Don't build it, but we did a sod turn. What do you want, a basketball centre? We've already done the sod turn.
00:10Exposed nails cutting children's knees. Facilities to Porta host home matches.
00:15Is that something that would be acceptable in Coggera, Sydney or anywhere else in the sporting nation?
00:20Well, 12 months on from the NSW Government's decision to revoke funding for a Dubbo Sports Hub,
00:25that's exactly what the tens of thousands of young athletes in the west of the state have just learnt to live with.
00:29It's really a slap in the face, but us kids out here in the country, we're really resilient and we always wish for the best.
00:36The Dubbo Sports Hub was first announced all the way back in 2018 as the $44 million Western Institute of Sport.
00:43It would be fit with world-class tennis, basketball, netball, indoor cricket and gym facilities.
00:50It would have replaced Dubbo's new decrepit existing complexes and had two sod turnings, a location change,
00:56then both council and state funding pulled, leaving the town in limbo.
01:01In a region that produces stars like Isaiah Yeo, Matt Burton and Glenn McGrath,
01:06locals say shelving the project risks the next generation.
01:09Lauren Jackson, she's an amazing basketball player.
01:12She comes from Albury Regional NSW again and I think with proper sports facilities that would just get Dubbo one step closer to getting elite athletes.
01:24When rep season's in, we're travelling at least twice every month just to play our rounds of basketball.
01:31And that puts a lot of financial pressure on families with Dubbo and in our community.
01:36Saying just three or four courts, it's not a huge ask, but when there's all the politics behind it, I think it can get a bit confusing when we just need to think about the picture.
01:44With no modern venue, long-running events like the State Indoor Police Cricket Championships have already left Dubbo,
01:50taking thousands of valuable tourism dollars with them.
01:53Basketball and netball groups have told me they would be satisfied with three to four safe, full-size indoor courts.
02:01Their ask for basic facilities from a region that's home to 125,000 people shouldn't seem that big.
02:08Yet the Minister for Regional NSW, Tyra Moriarty, and the Premier, Chris Minns,
02:13still haven't visited the town in the 12 months since they took that money away on December 18, 2024.
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