Northern Beaches needs its athletic track now

Schools and athletes across the Northern Beaches and further afield have been left in the lurch as the track at Sydney Academy of Sport in Narrabeen was closed indefinitely four months ago due to dangerous bubbling of its synthetic surface. It means around 60 school athletics carnivals, as well as Little Athletics, the Manly Warringah Athletics Club and numerous athletes who use the track for training, including hopeful Olympians and Masters Games competitors, are struggling to find appropriate training and competition facilities.

Coming shortly before the Paris Olympics, this is just devastating. Athletes will now need to travel over an hour to access a suitable running track at Homebush, Kensington or the Central coast. Some of the school carnivals may be able to be accommodated on the nearby grass ovals at the Academy but students will need to be chaperoned over 400m from the site of the grass track to the field events venue. 

But the broader problem remains. Asking elite athletes to train on a grass track is like asking Olympic swimmers to train in an ocean pool or the local dam. The synthetic surface of the track was only replaced in 2019 and repaired in 2022, which raises the question: why did it deteriorate again so quickly?

While the facility is owned by the NSW Government’s Office of Sport and the matter is in the hands of their insurers, I will be urging the NSW government to act quickly to resolve this problem. But the fact that it’s happened twice in five years, raises serious questions about whether there are more intractable drainage problems, which are only likely to become more pronounced as climate change causes sea level rise and more frequent flooding rains.

The closure of the Narrabeen track has highlighted the broader issue of the dire lack of athletics facilities in the region. Data held by NSW Athletics indicates there is a great need and demand for a second track in the area. That’s why I and my fellow state independent MP, Michael Regan, have begun the process of advocating to the NSW and Federal governments not only to resolve the issue with the track at the Academy of Sport – but also for a new athletics facility in the region to accommodate the huge number of athletes in our community.

PEP-11

There’s been an important development on Petroleum Exploration Permit 11, the oil and gas project that is proposed by Advent Energy off the coast between Manly and Newcastle.

As a result of community pressure and lobbying by my state colleagues and me, NSW Labor has agreed to pass legislation that would prevent seabed mining in State waters – that is within 3 nautical miles of the coast. The PEP 11 exploration area is located further out to sea in Commonwealth waters, but the NSW bill is powerful as it also restricts any facilities being built that are related to seabed mining such as terminals and pipelines.

But the issue is not yet entirely put to bed as the Federal and State resources ministers are still considering whether to extend the life of the PEP-11 permit in coming weeks. The financial viability and feasibility of the project will be considered when they decide whether to extend the life of the PEP11 permit. Even if the governments take this step, there are still environmental requirements and other approvals that must be met before this project could be commercialised. That’s why I won’t stop advocating in Canberra to stop this project until it is truly dead in the water.