Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull high fives players at the Telstra State SAP Championships For Girls being played at C.ex Coffs International Stadium on September 18, 2017.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull flagged the future upgrade to the C.ex Coffs International Stadium as scoring a goal for the government’s agenda of getting more kids active.
Half of the $13 million upgrade will be funded by the Federal Government, while the Coffs Harbour City Council will fund the other half.
Mr Turnbull said supporting regional infrastructure was critically important and the upgrade to the stadium would help bring communities together.
“What you’re seeing here today is what great sporting infrastructure can do,” Mr Turnbull said, pointing out the Telstra State SAP Championships For Girls playing in the background.
“It’s a big part of our health agenda to see more young people playing sport.”
Federal Member for Cowper, Luke Hartsuyker, said the government’s $6.5 million contribution would “make what is an already great regional centre even better”.
“It’s important to invest in our regional centres and the prime minister understands this,” Mr Hartsuyker said.
Over the years the stadium has brought an A-league clash, women’s Ashes matches and AFL pre-season hit-ups among other high profile sporting events to Coffs.
Coffs Harbour Mayor Denise Knight said “sports tourism is one of the biggest things that comes to Coffs Harbour”.
Cr Knight previously said sports tourism contributed $30 million to the Coffs community, with about $19 million being directly attributed to the C.ex Coffs International Stadium.