Exactly 100 days since it was canned by the State Government, Dubbo Mayor Josh Black is not giving up the fight to regain funding for the Dubbo Indoor Sports Hub.

Cr Black has used the solemn century anniversary of the withdrawal of the $50 million offer to renew his call for the NSW Government to restore the funding to the project via the upcoming State Budget.

“This is a regionally-significant project with great sporting and social outcomes for a wide area of NSW, yet funding was pulled without the Minister (Tara Moriarty) even visiting to speak directly with local stakeholders,” Cr Black said.

“I have been fighting for the funding to be re-instated for the past 100 days, and I won’t stop until it is. Without this centre being built, the youth of Dubbo and Western NSW are continuing to miss out on the opportunities those to the east of us have," he added.

With the State Government’s focus on crime in the regions, Cr Black said it was impossible to understand why they had removed funding that would help assist in getting youth off the streets.

“The Sports Hub and PCYC will allow delivery of a whole range of youth engagement programs. It’s the exact thing that residents living in Western NSW have been crying out for to break the cycle of youth offending, and the exact thing the Government have been saying needs to happen.

"Yet, when a suitable site for the project was presented to her, Minister Moriarty ripped the funding away, even though it could be built within the current allocation of money,” Cr Black said.

The facility was originally proposed to be built at the CSU University campus in Dubbo, however the tender substantially exceeded the allocated budget.

After being told by Minister Moriarty's own department to find an alternative site, Cr Black said that PCYC NSW led a pro-active approach in putting forward a formal variation to see the development happen at Dubbo SportsWorld, only to then have the money withdrawn after the change of site was formally applied for.

Documents from the Department of Regional NSW office, released under a FOI request to Council, show the Office of Sport and the Grant Management Office both supported the variation in location for the facility.

The NSW State Government will deliver the 2025/2026 Budget in late June, with Cr Black hoping to see a 180 degree turn by the Minns Labor Government on the issue.