Lauren KATHAGE (Yan Yean) (13:16): There is another Alice in Wonderland story playing out in Mernda. In Wonderland Alice eats something and grows bigger. She drinks something and grows smaller. Seven years ago Mernda was looking at a 50-metre pool for around $60 million. Today the price has grown to $85 million, while the pool has shrunk to 25 metres. But after all these years the community just want to see the pool centre built. The Victorian government has already committed $30 million to the precinct, including $10 million specifically for the pool. That $10 million is in line with what the state contributes to other councils for pools elsewhere, and other councils managed to bring their projects together with support from different levels of government. Yet council now says this pool will only proceed if external government funds at least half the cost. So after seven years the project is more expensive and reduced in scope, and there is still no certainty it will actually be built. Even the Mad Hatter would have difficulty understanding that. Mernda has waited long enough. We want our pool.