Latest news with #Shepparton
ABC News
08-07-2025
- Sport
- ABC News
Basketball infrastructure concerns as sport rises in popularity
Fifteen-year-old Emma Quinlan from Shepparton started playing basketball after the COVID-19 pandemic and now travels to compete for the North East Bushrangers in the Victorian Junior Basketball League (VJBL) every week. She has also taken on assistant coaching roles with a mentor and aspires to coach full-time in the future. There are local academy programs, but Emma must regularly travel to Melbourne and Bendigo for better training opportunities. "For me, basketball is all about the relationships that I can make," she said. Emma's family is deeply involved in the sport — her mum, Sam Quinlan, coaches multiple teams in the area and her brother, Reese, has played since 2012 and coaches in the VJBL. Ms Quinlan said infrastructure in the area was lagging behind the interest in basketball. "The Mooroopna Cats are at a very, very old facility," she said. "It's cold, it's dank and has a linoleum floor that's been there since the 1990s." Wangaratta's basketball association recently relocated its under-12 and under-14 tournaments to Wodonga due to a lack of suitable courts to accommodate the area's 70 teams at the town's sports and aquatic centre. The venue hosted an NBL match in August last year and received a $12.4 million upgrade for the facility, but it was not sufficiently complete to host the junior competition. "There was a little bit of the stadium that wasn't finished, and that was the toilets and things like that," Wangaratta Basketball president Adam Maher said. "There wasn't an easy way out of it until we did some more work with our council, so until we sort out those issues, we thought it was a better idea to go up to Wodonga." Former Opal Lauren Jackson recently led training clinics across Australia and said she was concerned about the lack of courts for youth basketball. "The more I talk to the states and territories, the more that you hear stories of kids having to be turned away from the game," she told the ABC while conducting training sessions in April. Despite the challenges, Basketball NSW and Basketball Victoria said they were not sitting idle. Both associations said they were working to meet the growing demand. Basketball NSW said the state needed 300 courts, and 54 were in the pipeline. The Victorian government is either building or upgrading 16 courts through its Regional Sports Infrastructure Program announced in July 2023 after the 2026 Commonwealth Games were cancelled. The government also allocated $800,000 to East Gippsland Council in its 2023 budget for upgrades to the basketball precinct at Lakes Entrance. But Basketball Victoria general manager of government, strategy and innovation Jake Keogh said the state was 220 courts short of the number required. "We have a strategic growth target of 4 per cent a year, which will mean we need 22 to 24 new courts a year," he said. Mr Keogh said initiatives were helping to attract more players to the sport, including organising more 3x3 street basketball tournaments, working with other sports such as netball to share courts, and delivering stripped-back facilities that were cheaper to build, such as the AWA stadium in Geelong. A state government spokesperson said more than $80 million had been invested in basketball infrastructure projects in regional areas. "Councils are encouraged to apply for funding from our dedicated grants programs that support building and upgrading of basketball facilities across Victoria," the spokesperson said. But regional councils said they were scrambling for scarce funding at best. Greater Shepparton City Council said it had campaigned for more funding from the Commonwealth ahead of the federal election and would continue to upgrade its sports stadium. The Victorian government pledged $3 million towards the project. The second stage of upgrades to the Lauren Jackson Sports Centre in Albury has stalled amid funding uncertainty. In the latest budget handed down in June, Albury City Council announced that the stage two upgrade would remain unfunded until at least 2029. A response to submissions in council papers said that was due to financial sustainability measures and competing project priorities, but the decision could be reviewed annually. Despite some of the issues, Mr Maher said the Wangaratta stadium was getting the improvements it needed, but would require more resources for completion. "The council have produced four new courts and we have people coming down all the time saying it's a fantastic facility," he said. "The council do recognise the facility needs more toilets … there's plumbing done, ready to go, but we obviously need to find some money to get to the next thing."
ABC News
08-07-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Apple and pear growers diversify as Australia's fruit consumption declines
After moving to Australia 19 years ago, Amarinder Bajwa built a career in Melbourne in transport. But four years ago, he left it all behind to pursue his dream of being a farmer in Victoria's Goulburn Valley. "I had no idea about Shepparton, but I came to visit a friend who had just bought a farm here," Mr Bajwa said. "I really liked the weather and the way everything looked really green. "It resembles my home country." Mr Bajwa, who grew up in Punjab in northern India, purchased a fruit orchard in Shepparton East with his brother, but it was not long before it got tough. He lost nearly 70 per cent of his crop to a hailstorm, the orchard was flooded in 2022 and now the state is experiencing drought conditions. Despite all that, Mr Bajwa does not regret making the move. "I feel connected — farming brings communities together, whereas in metros you don't know your next-door neighbours. "The support we've had from the community has been beyond my expectations." Apple and Pear Australia Limited (APAL), which represents growers, said the industry was at a "crossroads" and most producers had not made a profit in the past four years. APAL head of industry, government relations and advocacy Jeremy Griffith said he expected more orchards to be consolidated over the next five years. "Input costs have ramped up dramatically, and supermarkets are not covering those costs," Mr Griffith said. Mr Griffith said APAL's strategy for the next five years would focus on increasing consumer demand for fresh produce. New export markets are opening up in China, but Mr Griffith said the industry really needed Australians to eat more fruit. "Apple consumption has flatlined and we have certainly seen a decline in pear consumption," he said. "We did see, in the last few years, 15 per cent of pear orchards removed." The challenges continue to stack up, but Mr Griffiths said farm succession was one of the biggest concerns for orchardists. "Their kids don't want to take over because they can't really see a future in it," he said. "Working this hard and not being able to make a profit, it's a pretty depressing place for the industry to be in. "It's a tough, tough business … and I'm yet to meet a grower who doesn't work seven days a week." It is Mr Bawja's unsinkable optimism that keeps him in the orchard every day. Mr Bawja is diversifying his crops so he does not have to rely on the income of an annual harvest, including growing broccolini year-round. "This is the third year and we're really happy with the way things are coming up," he said. He also plans to plant more apples and apricots. "We are in the process of pulling old varieties out and replacing them with new varieties," Mr Bajwa said. "They are better looking, better eating quality and better yields
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Aussie town plans to build ‘biggest pear on Earth'
Australia is notorious for its oversized landmarks: there's the Big Banana in Coffs Harbour, the Big Prawn in Ballina, the Big Merino in Goulburn, but have you heard about the Big Pear? The Aussie town of Shepparton–in the heart of Victoria's Goulburn Valley–is planning to build the world's largest pear, and the cost of the fibreglass fruit alone is expected to be more than $1.3 million. The Goulburn Valley is renowned for its pears–with 90 per cent of the pears sold across Australia coming from the region. Australia is notorious for its oversized landmarks. There's the big banana in Coffs Harbour, the big prawn in Ballina, the Big Merino in Goulburn, but have you heard about the big pear, the Aussie town of Shepparton in the heart of Victoria's Goulburn Valley, is planning to build the world's largest pear, and the cost of the fibreglass fruit alone is expected to be more than $1.3 million. The Goulburn Valley is renowned for its pears, with 90% of the pears sold across Australia coming from there. A spokesperson for the group behind the landmark's proposal, Rocky Varapodio, told Triple M that the three-story pear would be telling a story about the region. He explained that the fruit industry has talked about having a structure in the region that symbolises and recognises fruit growing in the area. We think it's time to recognise this industry that's given so much to this region. Although Mr. Varapodio said it's hard to tell when the big pear will become a reality, he hopes it will be built in the next few years.
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bizarre giant pear proposal for Aussie town
Amid the success of Australia's 'big things', such as the Big Banana and the Big Pineapple, a Victorian town is now advocating to build the biggest pear on Earth. The city of Shepparton has a proposal for a three-storey pear in the heart of the Goulburn Valley, led by The Steering Group. Rocky Varapodio, a spokesman for the group, said these sorts of attractions can 'really highlight' regional towns. 'We've been doing a lot of work on this and the background of it is that the fruit industry has really over the years talked about having a structure in the region that really symbolises and recognises fruit growing in the area,' he told Triple M. Mr Varapodio said the giant pear was about 'telling a story' about the region. 'We think the time is probably right now to recognise this industry that's given so much to this region,' he said. The Goulburn Valley is well known for its pears, with 90% of the fruit sold across the country coming from the region. Mr Varapodio explained that potentially $2 million could be generated back into the economy, from the giant pear. However, early estimates have suggested the project could cost $1.3 million, with the steering group seeking government, council and stakeholder support to fund the idea. 'The next phase is to get a structural design done because we want it to be done properly and tastefully, we want it to be a whole interactive experience when you walk into it with some really good technology such as touch screens and displays that really tell a story about this industry that's been so solid for this region,' Mr Varapodio said. 'It's hard to put a time frame on it but we would really like this to happen over the next few years.'
News.com.au
03-07-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Shepperton could build a giant pear in new tourism bid
Amid the success of Australia's 'big things', such as the Big Banana and the Big Pineapple, a Victorian town is now advocating to build the biggest pear on Earth. The city of Shepparton has a proposal for a three-storey pear in the heart of the Goulburn Valley, led by The Steering Group. Rocky Varapodio, a spokesman for the group, said these sorts of attractions can 'really highlight' regional towns. 'We've been doing a lot of work on this and the background of it is that the fruit industry has really over the years talked about having a structure in the region that really symbolises and recognises fruit growing in the area,' he told Triple M. Mr Varapodio said the giant pear was about 'telling a story' about the region. 'We think the time is probably right now to recognise this industry that's given so much to this region,' he said. The Goulburn Valley is well known for its pears, with 90% of the fruit sold across the country coming from the region. Mr Varapodio explained that potentially $2 million could be generated back into the economy, from the giant pear. However, early estimates have suggested the project could cost $1.3 million, with the steering group seeking government, council and stakeholder support to fund the idea. 'The next phase is to get a structural design done because we want it to be done properly and tastefully, we want it to be a whole interactive experience when you walk into it with some really good technology such as touch screens and displays that really tell a story about this industry that's been so solid for this region,' Mr Varapodio said. 'It's hard to put a time frame on it but we would really like this to happen over the next few years.'
