Liberals ‘good news’ for Cats

Andrew Mathieson
GEELONG Football Club president Frank Costa has stopped short of publicly endorsing Liberal candidate Sarah Henderson after describing her party’s $36 million pledge for Skilled Stadium as “sensational news”.
The Liberals announced this week that a federal coalition government would fund the next stage of the Cats’ home-ground redevelopment.
Labor has so far refused to commit funding for the new grandstand at the northern end of the stadium until after Australia knows the outcome of its World Cup bid, which would included plans for games at the stadium.
Mr Costa helped fund Ms Henderson’s campaign for Corangamite and provided a reference for her preselection.
But Mr Costa said he contributed to both major parties’ campaigns to “support the right candidate” in the region’s two electorates.
“I think Richard Marles (for Corio) has been absolutely fantastic for us,” he said.
“And Sarah Henderson has been equally great.
“I think it will be good value for Geelong to have a strong Labor representative in the north and a strong Liberal representative in the south.”
But Mr Costa said his club should not be seen to be favouring either party for contributions to the stadium upgrade.
The first $25 million for the upgrade project came from the Victorian Labor Government to build a Reg Hickey stand.
“Until then, we almost lost football in Geelong,” Mr Costa said.
“The AFL was going to take it away because, if you go back 12 years ago, our stadium was in terrible condition and not suitable for elite football at all. “We required both governments to support us and they did.”
Ms Henderson said she devised the funding policy for Skilled Stadium, which would tie in with a recent Victorian Government financial commitment toward stage three.
“This is the result of 12 months of being pre-selected and talking to a wide range of community and business leaders,” she said.
Ms Henderson denied the funding commitment was payback for an old family friend and a financial backer of her campaign.
“I would not want any suggestion that was made – there is no basis for that whatsoever.”
Liberal candidate for Corio Don Gibson, whose seat includes Skilled Stadium, was absent from the funding announcement.