Anthony Albanese, Minister for Infrastructure and Local Government, has announced the Rudd Labor Government will offer $5 million towards the new Tamworth Indoor Sports Centre in the New England region of New South Wales.

Minister Albanese made the announcement with the Member for New England, Tony Windsor and the Deputy Mayor of Tamworth Regional Council, Col Murray.

The project, which is worth nearly $10 million, will commence construction of the new indoor sports centre to serve Tamworth and the New England community.

This centre will help meet growing demand for basketball and other indoor sports in New England, and deliver specialised activities for an ageing population.

It will also encourage economic investment and support local jobs in Tamworth by providing high quality sports centre that can host major regional, inter-state and national sports events.

This project will include the construction of a main sports hall with four multi-sport courts along with change rooms, kiosk, administration areas, consulting rooms and a multi-purpose room.

This will make sure that Tamworth residents and visitors have a modern complex for a range of indoor sports, including basketball, volleyball, badminton, indoor bowls and tennis.

Funding from the Rudd Government is part of our $800 million Community Infrastructure Program - the largest one-off investment in local infrastructure in Australia's history.

Through the Rudd Government's economic stimulus plan, we are investing in major projects like this to support local jobs and economies during the global recession.

This funding builds on more than $4.1 million that the Rudd Labor Government has already delivered for 88 local projects in the New England region this year alone.

It brings our investment in New England community infrastructure to more than $9.1 million this year alone.

Nearly 70 per cent of the stimulus plan is on infrastructure with construction of projects already underway. More than 3,000 projects are being funded through the Government's Community Infrastructure Program across Australia to support local jobs.