LIBERAL candidate for Dunkley Sharn Coombes has made a pre-election promise of $15 million for upgrades to Mount Eliza’s Emil Madsen Reserve, just one month after Labor promised $10 million.
The Liberal party has its sights firmly set on taking the key seat of Dunkley from Labor and spreading its reach across the peninsula.
Coombes, who launched her campaign alongside Attorney General Michaelia Cash in Mount Eliza on Wednesday, said her plan for Dunkley was about supporting local communities and “delivering practical solutions to issues across our area”.
Coombes said the upgrade at the reserve would include new pavilions, courts and playing surfaces.
She has also promised $600,000 for the Mount Eliza Village Streetscape.
Emil Madsen Reserve is the largest sports precinct in Mornington Peninsula Shire and is home to the Mount Eliza Junior Football Club, Mount Eliza Soccer Club, Mount Eliza Football Netball Club and Mount Eliza Cricket Club. An estimated 2000 people use it on a regular basis.
Labor also saw the need for improvement at Emil Madsen Reserve, offering $10m one month before the Liberals found that $15m was needed to do the job.
Transport and regional development spokesperson Catherine King, supporting sitting MP Peta Murphy, said facilities at the reserve were outdated and overdue for an update and did not properly cater to the emerging generation of girls and women wanting to play sport.
First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 3 May 2022
