Dr. Kerryn Phelps, Member for Wentworth, rightly had her nose out of joint this week while her Liberal opponent Dave Sharma stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Sports Minister Bridget McKenzie for a photo opportunity as the Federal Government dedicated a lazy $15 million to the Swans for their new HQ. Despite Dr. Phelps being the duly elected neighborhood member, she did not even get an invitation.
“It, in reality, created quite a few controversies inside the vicinity,” Dr. Phelps instructed the Sydney Morning Herald. “People stopped me in the road and said they have been honestly irritated about it. This is disappointing because sports activities must be clear of partisan politics.”
As if. Big-time sports is never clear of partisan politics and, as we’ve got visible on this election so far, each the Coalition and the ALP had been outdoing themselves, allotting massive slabs of taxpayer cash to a ramification of expert sport cash-making commercial enterprise for everything from “excellence centers,” to new grandstands to new wearing HQs. Yes, this stuff is always dressed up as if they’re helping the citizenry – it’s going to benefit the general public and boost numbers gambling, sincere it’ll – but rarely are.
What I see is cash from the Big End of Town not going to the provinces in which it’s far wanted, or suburbia, or the grassroots in well-known, as a substitute being sent down the road a piece to anywhere the closest and most beautiful wearing commercial enterprise is making the running. For you notice, committing the cash to the consideration boys captures the fans’ immediate headlines and feel-suitable stories. In a way, patient allocation of money for grassroots wearing infrastructure never could.
