"Save Big Splash water park"

The Canberra Times

Greens MLA Jo Clay and Greens candidate for Fenner Dani Hunterford have called on the ACT Government to consider all options to save the privately-run Big Splash, including buying it and running it as a public facility

Transcript

00:00I'm here at Big Splash in Jammo. The community's brought a lot of concerns to

00:04me that this pool hasn't opened this summer and they really really love this

00:08pool. It's really important in a changing climate that we do have places like this

00:12where people can mingle and cool off. Danny Hunterford has brought forward a

00:16petition to bring those community voices to Parliament. I have tried to contact

00:21the owners, I've reached out to them via a few different methods. We're not

00:25managing to get through. I think it is clear that this is a tricky time for

00:30this particular site. It's a really good idea for government to have a look at

00:34what role they'd like to play in this swimming pool and I think it's also

00:38really important that we make sure community voices are heard and that the

00:42community need to keep this as a really beautiful recreational area is heard.

00:46How many people have signed the petition? We've so far got a couple of hundred

00:50signatures on that petition and anyone who would like to sign should jump on to

00:54the Parliament website and sign up. Danny Hunterford's petition is calling

00:58on government to have a look at all of the options. There's lots of choices the

01:02government could make. In some places governments run municipal pools, there is

01:07different involvement for government in different pools around in Canberra

01:10right at the moment. I think it's really up to government to have a look at this

01:13and see what can be done and also to make sure that they're listening to the

01:16community about what should happen here. I think it's great that Minister Berry

01:21has reached out to the business owners. I think it's probably time for government

01:24to take a more active role in Big Splash. We've clearly lost a whole summer here

01:29and the community is pretty concerned. Look, I grew up in Belconnen and we

01:33adored Big Splash. This was the premium birthday party venue for the whole area.

01:38It's clearly not at its best at the moment. Clearly we need something to

01:43happen out here and I think it's really good for government and the local

01:46business to get together and see what can happen. Do you feel the same way

01:49about Phillip Pool? Do you think that should be saved for that community? I

01:52think there's a lot of things going on at the moment for pools in Canberra.

01:57There was a recent assembly motion that passed about Phillip Pool. That's been

02:02referred to a committee that I chair. I can't comment about a matter that's

02:05currently before a committee but I would say watch this space. Look, I think it's

02:08really important that the Canberra community does have public access to

02:12pools. In a changing climate that's really important. All around Canberra

02:16we're densifying, we're living in close confines and here in Macquarie we've got a lot of

02:22great missing middle. We've got townhouses and low-rise apartments. All

02:25of these people need somewhere beautiful to go and they need somewhere they can

02:29get together and mingle. So we need to make sure we're doing that as we go.

02:32I saw that people miss this facility. A lot of people around this area grew up

02:35with this facility and they were really disappointed to see that it was closed

02:39for this summer. This summer in particular has just been such a hot one.

02:43We've seen the devastating impacts of climate change and how it's just made

02:47the weather absolutely unbearable in Canberra and we need community facilities

02:50that deliver for Canberrans such as this one. This facility promotes social

02:54inclusion and it's a fun space for people to engage and just be outside.

02:59I think there's been some comments in the letters to the editor about why

03:03does government have to get involved in a private business. What would you

03:07say to that? I would say that the evidence is right there. This is failing

03:11because of the private industry. Government needs to step in to make sure

03:14that these facilities are open to members of the community.

03:19But it's as if the business owner doesn't want to keep it open if they've made the executive decision to not keep it open for this summer.

03:24Do you think, how can the government intervene?

03:26If the business owner has made that decision, it should be on them to

03:30communicate that. They haven't communicated that and they haven't been

03:32honest with members of the community. What do you make of the lack of

03:35communication, clear communication from the owner to the community? Oh, it's appalling.

03:38The owner needs to step up and say what is going on and just tell the

03:44truth to the community.

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