GEELONG REALLY NEEDS TO GET ITS PRIORITIES RIGHT

I WOULD like the community to think about priority funding.

At the GFC AGM we learned from Brian Cook that the Geelong Football Club is lobbying for $100 million to finish the Kardinia Stadium.

However its priorities are at a community cost.

The cost is that other projects in Geelong and Victoria may miss out.

No one is arguing that the stadium should not be finished; just that is it the highest priority for our area at the moment?

Some examples of good projects that will need state government funding will include funding for a convention centre; supporting the yacht club’s ambitious and sensible expansion and supporting Barwon Health’s infrastructure needs.

Furthermore there are hundreds of community clubs and groups that need funding. For example: many football and netball clubs train in the dark and have substandard training facilities.

It is difficult to tell the 8000 people waiting to see a specialist at Barwon Health’s outpatients or the 1500 people awaiting for their surgery that another $100 million is more important to a football stadium than their health, comfort and dignity.

The University Hospital Geelong desperately needs new operating theatres to reduce the record number of people awaiting surgery.

Barwon Health urgently needs funding to build a new mental health facility because the Swanson Centre is no longer a suitable building.

Our region does not even have an inpatient detox centre in Geelong.

The community needs to decide if the GFC and Kardinia trust’s wishes are the most needy $100 million.

I think the football club and the stadium have had their share of the pie for a long time.

I think the GFC needs to balance its wishes against the community’s needs. Dr John Stekelenburg, Former Barwon Health chairman