Wednesday, 31 August 2022

 Dr CUMMING (Western Metropolitan) (18:25): (2102) My adjournment matter is to the Minister for Community Sport in the other place, and the action that I seek is for the government to fund the construction of an outdoor pool at the Brimbank Aquatic and Wellness Centre. Brimbank City Council is replacing the St Albans Leisure Centre with the Brimbank Aquatic and Wellness Centre to provide a range of services to meet the needs of the local community. The final design for the current works does not include an outdoor pool. However, to futureproof the design, space for an outdoor 25-metre pool has been incorporated in the overall site plan. Council has invested over $60 million in the construction of the centre, with a $2 million contribution from the state government through the Local Sports Infrastructure Fund—$60 million compared to the state government’s contribution of $2 million. This investment has provided four indoor pools but no outdoor pools, which were the main feature of the St Albans Leisure Centre. If you had ever gone to the St Albans centre, you would have loved the outdoor pools. Based on a similar recent project at another location and the current escalation in construction costs, an amount of $10 million is needed to construct an outdoor 25-metre pool.

Now, 35 per cent of the people who drowned in the last 10 years came from multicultural communities. People born overseas are twice as likely to drown when comparing drowning rates per head of population and cultural backgrounds. Brimbank is one of the most culturally diverse areas in this state. I know this government has invested in water safety education, but people also need access to pools—public pools, affordable pools—to have swimming lessons and to receive water safety lessons. Without a commitment from the government for the construction of the pool, it just will not happen and we are going to be waiting years upon years upon years. Council has invested a huge amount, $60 million, in this project. They do not have any more funds to invest, and the people of Brimbank need this facility. We understand that $50 million comes out of this community in pokie revenue. The state government’s pitiful $2 million—why don’t you return some of the taxes that you take from this Brimbank community and invest them into community infrastructure that they actually need? Is $2 million all that Brimbank is worth?