The urgent need to reopen Narrabeen Athletics Track was debated in Parliament, with representative AJ Jauncey of Manly Warringah Little Athletics in the gallery, in early June.
Ms Scruby, Independent Pittwater MP, brought on the debate to put pressure on the NSW Government in the lead up to the budget. Public Interest Debates (PIDs) are one of the most contentious items the House deals with. It’s extra-ordinary for both sides to support a PID without amendment.
Ms Scruby secured multipartisan support in the NSW Parliament with the motion passing to call on the Government to have the synthetic Narrabeen athletics track funded and up and running again by 2026. A number of MPs including Michael Regan (Wakehurst), James Griffin (Manly), Eleni Petinos (Shadow Minister for Sport), seven-time paralympian Liesl Tesch (Gosford) and Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig spoke in support of the motion.
Ms Scruby highlighted the plight of local athletes and spoke of the ongoing battle undertaken by Michael Regan MP and herself to get the track back on track, even her efforts to suggest an alternative insurer. “I suggested that we should maybe use a private insurer instead of icare. We also lobbied the Sydney Japanese International School, which helpfully let us use its track. [However] unfortunately, it does not allow spikes on its track, so this was not a solution.”
These efforts were acknowledged by the Minister for Local Government who said:
“From the moment she became a member, she brought to the attention of the House and the Government the Sydney Academy of Sport and Recreation athletics track at Narrabeen. I acknowledge that she has been ferocious in her advocacy.”
On behalf of the Government, the Member for Gosford confirmed that:
“So far, the Government has conducted the following stakeholder engagement. In 2024 we had face-to-face meetings in February, April, August, November and December, with updates in 2024 and 2025. We have begun meeting every two weeks with representatives from Manly Warringah Little Athletics and Manly Warringah Athletics clubs. If we need to expand that engagement further, we will.
We are investigating and working on a solution for the people of the northern beaches so they can continue running as fast as they can towards 2032 [Olympics].”
“It’s a farce that we have a sign recognising Narrabeen Athletics Track as an Olympic Training Centre, when no one can run on it, let alone train for the Olympics,” said Jacqui Scruby.
“South, West and Eastern Sydney all have tracks, and only the North of Sydney is suffering this disadvantage, having to travel over 2 hours multiple times per week to train, or risk injury on an ironically more dangerous grass track. It’s time for the government to fund the track in the 2025/26 Budget and get underway to reopen the track in 2026.”