Coalition's Skilled Stadium Commitment Sparks Storm

The Federal Coalition's election commitment to invest $36 million into a major redevelopment of Skilled Stadium and Kardinia Park in Geelong has sparked a storm.

The Geelong Football Club's endorsement of the Coalition's pledge, as evident to Club members who received a joint news release from the opposition and the Cats in which club President Frank Costa welcomed the Coalition's multimillion-dollar commitment, has sparked anger among Labor-supporting members.

Long-time Geelong and ALP member Rennis Witham told Melbourne's The Age newspaper, "this is absolutely outrageous - members expect to get football news, not Liberal or Labor press releases.''

The Age subsequently reported that Cats' Chief Executive Brian Cook had conceded that the club may have over-stepped the mark, stating "if we had our time again maybe we would not put out a joint release. You can always handle things a bit better in retrospect.''

Cook said the club would have issued such a release for Labor, ''had they had committed to funding the redevelopment''.

Labor has said it will fund the upgrade if Australia is successful in the 2022 FIFA World Cup bid, to be announced in December. If Australia loses the bid, Labor would then consider the Skilled Stadium redevelopment separately.

The 'stage three'' proposal for the stadium would increase capacity to 34,500 while adding a purpose built community wellness and education centre, a Geelong sports museum, a new 'live site' within Kardinia Park to host major events, improved facilities for the Geelong Cricket Club and a 100-seat function room.

Local Liberal candidates Sarah Henderson and Don Gibson made the announcement of the Coalition's commitment this week, with Gibson stating "this commitment will transform Skilled Stadium into one of the most modern stadiums across Australia and it's also great for local jobs and a further boost for our economy" while Henderson added "Geelong deserves this stadium and I am pleased that the Federal Coalition has thrown its support behind our community."