The president of the Polish Club Albion says he feels “violated” after the federal government’s decision to withdraw a $160,000 grant that would have bankrolled urgently needed facilities.
An irate Andrew Korab said with the club’s 20-year-old building showing signs of wear, including a leaking roof and cracks in the main structure, the loss of a $160,000 Building Multicultural Communities grant meant 400 members would no longer receive new disabled facilities, toilets and a kitchen.
The former Labor government allocated the grant in the federal budget before last year’s election.
“I feel violated,” Mr Korab said.
“When we got the grant last year it felt like we had won lotto, now I feel like somebody’s said it was only a joke. It’s taking away from the most vulnerable.”
Mr Korab said the club had spent about $50,000 of its own money on repairs, believing it was getting the grant.
“We spent a lot of money in other areas that we wouldn’t normally have spent,” he said.
‘‘I don’t know how I’m going to explain this to my members.”
Opposition multicultural affairs spokeswoman Michelle Rowland, who visited the club on January 20 with Gellibrand Labor MP Tim Watts, labelled the decision ‘‘a disgrace”.
The Albion club also runs the Western Eagles Football Club, which unites the children of immigrant families of European and African descent.
‘‘I was led to believe multiculturalism meant something,” Mr Korab said. “This government does not seem to care.”
A spokeswoman for Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews said the government was reviewing spending “to ensure it is aligned with priorities’’.
