A couple of little clubs on Detour Road, North Wangaratta, have attracted more headlines than they'd care to receive in the past couple of years.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
First, there was the lead contamination debacle that shut down the Wangaratta Clay Target Club and forced the adjacent North Wangaratta Football and Netball Club out of its home ground for the best part of three years.
The ruling from the Environmental Protection Authority meant the shooting club had to permanently shut down its skeet shooting traps because of the proximity to the oval, resulting in a loss of members.
Then on Wednesday it was revealed the shooting club was at the centre of a political firestorm over Bridget McKenzie's alleged misuse of a $100 million sports grant program.
Quite understandably - and we don't doubt this for a second - the club says it deserved the almost $36,000 it received because the toilet block the cash was used to replace "could no longer be used, it was unhygienic, it had a whopping big hole in the floor where the sump that holds the effluent was, so when you opened the door, if you walked in you would fall in the water," club vice-president Brian Reid said on Wednesday.
After the past four years the shooting club has endured, no one would begrudge them a change of luck.
The trouble is, it's a bad look when the minister who handed out the grant for the shooting has been "gifted" a membership to the club.
IN OTHER NEWS:
Senator Bridget McKenzie made the announcement on February 25 last year alongside Nationals candidate Mark Byatt, who was contesting the seat of Indi, which was eventually won by independent Helen Haines.
Following the release of a scathing report from the Auditor-General last week, Senator McKenzie has faced heavy criticism, including calls from the Opposition and some crossbenchers for her to resign.
It is most unfortunate that a small club which has endured more than its share of misfortune in recent years has been caught in the crosshairs of this political gunfight.