Labor pledge for Sebas community

MILLIONS of Federal dollars will be fed into further development of the Sebastopol Community Hub on Vickers Street if Labor win the next election.

Alongside the City of Ballarat’s $3.5 million investment, Federal Labor has pledged $4.5 million from their first budget to see the Sebastopol Senior Citizens’ Centre rebuilt and modernised.

The new adaptable and accessible space will not only accommodate senior citizens, but other local grassroots user groups, community events, early learning programs, and maternal and child health services.

Last week, opposition leader Anthony Albanese visited the Senior Citizens’ Centre, and the Sebastopol Men’s Shed across the road, to personally pledge the funding.

“A Labor Government that I lead… will make sure that this project actually happens. It will be a new centre for senior citizens, early learning, community organisations including Girl Guides, and a whole range of activity,” he said.

“It’s a vision to create a focal point for the community where they can come together and be enriched by the interaction that inevitably will occur if you have a consolidation of a site, and a lot of activity in one spot.

“This is an exciting project. It will really lift up this whole community. The council’s done a lot of work to get it up to speed and ready to go.”

Sebastopol Senior Citizens’ secretary Bev Lovett said their facility was built in the 1970s.

“This is an important redevelopment. It’s been 10 years since talks began about doing something with our centre,” she said.

“Our older people love to come together for socialising, and to have something new will benefit everybody.

“We’ve been 50 years as a group, and a few of our older members… helped to build our centre. We’re excited for something new.”

Federal Member for Ballarat Catherine King said the update is “sorely needed.”

“This is about the revitalisation of this entire precinct. Social infrastructure is so important to communities,” she said.

“With the disappointing loss of local banking and postal services, investments like this will ensure that Sebastopol remains a resilient, dynamic and connected community well into the future.”

City of Ballarat mayor Cr Daniel Moloney said Sebastopol has “missed out” on funding opportunities for “far too long.”

“To have a Federal member and the opposition leader pushing so strongly for it, we really do appreciate that,” he said.

“This is a really significant announcement for Sebastopol because it’s about bringing a whole range of different people together across activities and ages, under one roof.”