Wednesday, 18 March 2026

 Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (18:35): (2429) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Community Sport, and the action that I seek is for the minister to provide funding in the 2026–27 state budget to build a new aquatic facility in Rochester. Rochester has now been through its fourth long, hot summer without a town swimming pool, which was destroyed in the October 2022 Victorian floods. Swimming pools are vital community assets in rural towns. They ensure kids learn to swim and provide a crucial fitness facility in towns that often lack alternatives. They also play an important function as focal points for socialising and community gatherings. Rochester pool provided a place where families could cool off during the sweltering summer heat when the temperature can get above 40 degrees for days in a row, as it did this summer. Without a local pool to swim in, kids are drawn to unsafe waterways like private dams, channels or the river, which all pose serious safety risks. All four local schools in Rochester strongly support a new pool for the town. They have spent thousands of dollars bussing students to Echuca for swimming lessons, and while flood recovery funds have so far subsidised swimming lessons, when those funds run out the schools estimate that lessons will cost around a hundred dollars per student, putting them financially out of reach for many.

Consultation by Campaspe Shire Council has revealed that a new pool is a top priority for the community, and in December council voted to endorse the final design for the new Rochester aquatic facility. It will feature a 25-metre pool for swimming laps and sports carnivals, a water play area for younger children, a kiosk, new change rooms as well as grassy open space for relaxing and enjoying the sun. The total cost is estimated to be $12.9 million. Campaspe council have committed to investing $5 million to bring their vision to life, but they cannot do it alone. Council is asking the Victorian government to contribute about $4 million towards the construction of a new aquatic facility that will serve Rochester, as well as surrounding communities, long into the future. I have many times in Parliament called for the state government to invest in a new pool for Rochester. The Treasurer herself said at the Echuca regional sitting in 2024 that this was:

… a project as a local member that I am pretty sure I will get behind.

Yet the last two state budgets have passed with not a single dollar for the Rochester pool. She has the ability to allocate this money, and she has not. Meanwhile the Allan Labor government have wasted $15 billion on corrupt CFMEU contracts on Big Build projects in Melbourne. This project is about more than swimming; it is a symbol of renewal and optimism.