More Paralympic athletes will be given the opportunity to train at Essendon Football Club’s world-class home base, The Hangar, with a Shorten Labor Government to invest $4 million to support the expansion of disability sport programs.

The Essendon Football Club has established a successful partnership with the Australian Paralympic Committee (APC), enabling Paralympic athletes to use the facilities throughout the year.
 
Labor’s investment will strengthen this partnership with the construction of wheelchair-accessible dormitory accommodation, improving access to facilities at The Hangar for athletes with disabilities, reducing APC program operating costs and providing new opportunities for disability sport participation, and talent identification activities.
 
The accommodation will support national wheelchair basketball, rugby and table tennis programs and also enable national camps for summer Paralympic sports including football, volleyball, boccia, goalball.
 
More than 160 additional para-sport athletes will be able to participate and the dormitories will also support multi-sport Para talent development and wheelchair Aussie rules camps.
 
This investment supports Essendon’s expansion of The Hangar, with new and enhanced facilities and a dedicated space for the APC Sport Hall of Fame to showcase the history of the Paralympic movement in Australia.
 
This builds on Labor’s record of supporting Paralympians and disability sport access.
 
In Government, Labor invested $6 million in the ground-breaking partnership between Essendon and the APC, which has seen the club provide the APC with administration, training and recovery facilities at no charge.
 
This partnership has enabled the APC and partner para-sports to deliver more funding directly to programs supporting Australia’s elite and aspiring athletes with disabilities.
 
Labor has today committed to invest in further strengthening that partnership, to improve and increase the resources available to Australia’s para-athletes.
 
Labor’s investment will mean current and future generations of para-sport athletes have access to the world-class facilities and support that matches their world-class talent.