2ST Southern Highlands - $3 million in recreational facility upgrades in the Southern Highlands
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2ST SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS - GRAEME DAY
WEDNESDAY, 7 APRIL 2026
SUBJECTS: Election Commitment, Hampden Park, Church Road Oval, David Woods Playing Field
[START]
GRAEME DAY, HOST: In the area at the moment the Member for Whitlam, and it's a very good morning to the Federal Member for Whitlam that's brought some money with her from the Albanese Government it's a very good morning to Carol Berry. Hello, Carol. How are you going?
CAROL BERRY MP: Good, thank you, Graeme. How are you?
DAY: Not too bad at all. Not too bad. How was was your weekend? You would have been rather busy, I would imagine, with a whole lot of things going on around the place.
BERRY: Yes, there's always action happening across the community, which is wonderful. So it that people got to enjoy their Easter and it's a lovely morning today as well. So hopefully the kids who are on school holidays are also having a lovely time.
DAY: Now, speaking about young people and their families, you brought some money to the table through the Albanese Government in regard to three sport ovals and parks in the Southern Highlands specifically.
BERRY: That's right. We're making a $3 million investment in playing fields and recreational spaces in the Highlands. So specifically that's investments in Church Road Oval at Moss Vale and in David Wood Playing Field and also in Hampton Park in Robertson.
DAY: And as you say, quite a bit of money, $3 million, and it spreads through a whole lot of different pieces of infrastructure. Where you are at the moment is Church Road Oval and I believe there's quite a bit of money being spent on lighting there.
BERRY: That's right. So across both Church Road Oval and David Wood playing field, we're investing about a million dollars in infrastructure to improve lighting.
We really want to make sure that those fields can be utilised as much as possible by the community. And we know that investments in lighting means that the time of day and the amount of time that people can spend actually utilising the field is expanded quite significantly.
Church Road oval already has some lighting, so we're upgrading the lighting in order to expand the number of fields which are lit; but David Wood playing playing field has no lighting at all which is really significantly constraining how those fields can be used.
And I know that local clubs are really chomping at the bit to be able to use those fields in particular more extensively. So these investments in infrastructure are really about ensuring that people can use those spaces as much as possible.
DAY: Now, I know the Mossvale Football Club and Highlands Football Club will be pretty happy about that because they'll be able to train with the lights on.
BERRY: Yeah, that's exactly right. And I've played soccer myself my kids play soccer. And so I do know what a difference lighting makes to when you're actually training or you're playing at night. That's a huge difference.
But also it just means for all of the volunteers that are behind the scenes who are involved in these clubs who are trying to fit everyone in, you know, soccer is a growing sport, it just means it's going to make their lives a lot easier. So I'm just really pleased about that.
DAY: That is great. And Hampton Park at Robertson, it needs a bit of a touch-up and a few things added to it, and that's exactly what this money will be going towards.
BERRY: That's right. It's going to be a total reinvent of that park. So there'll be a new playing area for the kids, but there'll also be a pump track and also a skate park as well, and then connecting pathways between those spaces.
Robertson is such an important town for the visitor economy. It's a town that's already won tourism awards and it's really well recognised as an amazing tourism tourism town. So I'm hoping that these enhancements in the park, it's already a really well utilised park, actually Hampton Park.
It just will be just another sort of jewel, if you like, for Robertson. And just it's a way that the federal government can invest to try and promote the visitor economy here in the Highlands as well.
We're really hoping that a lot of people will benefit from those park upgrades who are travelling through the Highlands and coming to the Highlands, but also it's a really important investment for locals as well.
DAY: Very important indeed. Well, you for your time and as I said, there's a number of clubs that will be very happy about that and those areas at David Wood and also Church Road and also at Robbo and the residents will be very happy with that indeed. Thank you so much for your time and we'll talk soon.
BERRY: Pleasure. Thank you.
DAY: No worries. Great to talk. Thank you. Bye. Carol Berry, Federal Member for Whitlam and is in the area delivering that money, $3 million towards that lighting and also improving recreational spaces.
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