$25m for indoor sport stadium

I'm up at Hillsborough this morning to welcome a $25m funding commitment to a new indoor sports facility.

The 4000-seat stadium will be the new home base for Newcastle Basketball but will also cater for netball, wheelchair sports, volleyball, school sports and futsal. It's also likely to be the home base for a local team in the National Women's Basketball League.

I've had a number of meetings with the Premier over the past year about this project, so I'm really happy that she's now committed to funding it.

The new centre will be built on land donated by Lake Macquarie City Council on Waratah Avenue, next to Hillsborough Public School.

This will be a fantastic indoor sports stadium, not just for Lake Macquarie but for the whole Hunter Region.

I’ve had a number of meetings with the Premier and Scot MacDonald about this project over the past year and I’m very happy that they’ve listened and committed the funding.

I must acknowledge Lake Macquarie City Council which will be donating the required land, but I also want to congratulate Neil Goffet and everyone at Newcastle Basketball for undertaking this project and seeing such great opportunity in Lake Macquarie.