Creswick Bowling Club chair Gerry Flapper is fired up, standing in front of his green ruined by January's floods.
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"It's been rather terrible," he said.
"It's been pretty hard on all the members in Creswick."
The club has just over 100 members, and they've been unable to play home games for "12 or 13 weeks", Mr Flapper said - that means 12 or 13 weeks worth of income through green fees or cash over the bar gone as well.
The bowling green was one of dozens of buildings, roads, and parts of the community destroyed by the flooding, with the cleanup still going on, and a review of how to stop it happening again in its early stages.
"We're still trying to push the council to get (the green) fixed, it means taking the whole top off, experts to come in, and fix it all, which is not cheap," Mr Flapper said.
"There's always work going on here, but since the flood, nothing, not a thing.
"The insurance company's told us not to go on the bowling green in case someone trips on one of the bad areas.
"Every time I walk down the street, I get asked 'when is something getting done? When is something getting done' - I just refuse to go down the street some days because I know what I'm going to cop."
Money to fix the green, and upgrade the rest of the Doug Lindsay Reserve - home to football, netball, and soccer clubs - is one of the projects included in Hepburn Shire Council's advocacy document released last month, to let politicians know what the community's priorities are ahead of budgets and elections.
On Thursday, as the still-unannounced federal election draws closer, incumbent ALP candidate for Ballarat Catherine King announced if elected, she would commit $750,000 to the Doug Lindsay Reserve, as well as $500,000 to the Glenlyon Recreation Reserve pavilion, and $365,000 for the Mineral Springs Reserve development program.
"One of the things I've been really careful of is to make sure these are projects that come from local councils," she said.
"We've chosen projects that have come from the advocacy documents, they're projects with strong community support and they're ready."
Hepburn mayor Tim Drylie noted the funding was welcome but "not guaranteed".
"Obviously this is all prefaced on the basis that this may or may not happen depending on who gets elected, and also these projects potentially need more funding and planning from the shire and state level," he said.
"The rebuild process is going to be ongoing and long, and these recreational facilities in Creswick in particular are really important for the fabric of Creswick.
"The announcement goes to further works and upgrades at this facility, and I think it helps in terms of the confidence of this community, seeing some funds to come back and support this recovery."
Mr Flapper was more direct.
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"It's definitely a good sign, but it's still a long way from the election, and it's only a 50-50 chance we'll get the money out of that election," he said.
"We can't rely on someone winning an election to supply us with money.
"If this continues on, we're going to miss out on a bowling green here for another two or three seasons, we're going to have to pack up and go home, we won't have any members left."
The federal election is expected to be held on May 14 or May 21.
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