A Shorten Labor Government will invest $750,000 to upgrade the facilities at North Ipswich Reserve.

The Reserve is the home ground to Ipswich’s own Intrust Super Cup team, the Ipswich Jets. The Intrust Super Cup is a feeder competition to the NRL.

The grounds are also utilised by A-League hopefuls Western Pride Football Club, who compete in Queensland’s National Premier League.

The Reserve is in need of urgent upgrades to change rooms, particularly the women’s facilities, which are outdated and in need of significant improvements to be fit for the current and future needs of the clubs and local community.

The Federal Parliamentary Labor Party has a longstanding commitment to increasing female participation in sport, and improving women’s changing facilities at the grounds is in line with this commitment.

Rugby League and Football in particular have improved the level of commitment to female participation in their respective sports. Ipswich Rugby League has a very strong female competition with several Ipswich players competing in State, National and International teams, including Jillaroos Ali Brigginshaw and Kody House.

Labor’s commitment will also provide for improved accessibility and terraced seating areas next to the playing surface.

These upgrades will support the Ipswich Jets, Western Pride and other users of the reserve to continue the work they’ve done to boost female participation, and will bring the facilities up to the standards appropriate for clubs playing in the State’s top competitions.

Several other sports use the facilities at North Ipswich Reserve, including cricket and touch football. The grounds are also used for a range of community activities and events, including Ipswich’s ANZAC Day march and commemoration, which is attended by thousands of people.

Labor is committed to supporting clubs and communities to improve local sporting facilities to give all Australians a fair go at sport, whether they dream of one day representing Australia or just want to enjoy the benefits of being physically active.

Our investments in local community sporting clubs and facilities like these help them build capacity to meet the welcome growth in female participation in club sport and support more Australians to live active, healthy lifestyles.

We can invest in a sporting chance for all Australians because Labor has made the tough budget decisions to make multinationals pay their fair share of tax and close tax loopholes used by the top end of town, and we won’t give the big banks a tax cut.