Subject: Sudden Closure of Peakhurst West Swimming Pool
E&OE…
Chris O’Keefe: If you live in and around the St George area or the Canterbury-Bankstown area and you thought it was a good day to go for a swim to cool off at your local pool, you would have found the Peakhurst West Community Pool closed at midday for no reason whatsoever. Well for a reason, but with no warning whatsoever. So the Peakhurst West Community Pool is also the home for over 100 members of the Peakhurst West Amateur Swimming Club. So no more Saturday Learn2Swim classes, or twice weekly squads, and no more casual visits to the Peakhurst West Community Pool. Closed indefinitely, as of midday today. I know the pool very well, it’s in the grounds of Peakhurst West Public School. I used to swim there. My grandmother lived around the corner. I lived five minutes away as a kid. And we used to have squad training there and have school carnivals and the like there. It is a little 25 metre pool in the grounds of Peakhurst West Public. Why is it closed? David Coleman, the Federal Member for Banks, is on the line. David, G’day.
David Coleman: Good afternoon, Chris.
Chris O’Keefe: Not great timing. What’s the reasoning behind this?
David Coleman: Well, this is just wrong, Chris. I mean, basically what happened was about 5pm yesterday, people were told the pool was closing at 12pm today, believe it or not. And what the Education Department is saying is that they had an inspection by Georges River Council a week or so ago, and they said that there are two issues. One, that the water quality needs to be checked more frequently and secondly, that there needs to be more supervision of some of the different groups that swim at the pool. And rather than saying, well, let’s work through that, let’s put some resources towards that, let’s get it sorted out, they said we’re shutting down the pool in less than 24 hours. And this is a pool, Chris, that has been there since 1961. The community actually paid for it and built it back then. It’s been there for six decades. And this is just bureaucracy gone mad. And they need to reverse this decision and work with the hundreds and hundreds of local community members who use this pool and get it back up and running.
Chris O’Keefe: So not enough supervision and more frequent tests of the water quality was all that was required?
David Coleman: That’s correct. So the department put out some documents last night and it said there was a Council inspection and it mentions two specific issues. One is that the water is tested once a day but apparently, it’s meant to be tested more than once a day. But okay, well test it more than once a day then. And the other is that more supervision is required. And that also seems a bit odd because many of these groups like Peakhurst Amateur Swimming Club, like Penshurst RSL Swimming Club, many other clubs that meet there I mean, they’ve got highly qualified coaches who have been teaching at this pool, in some cases for decades. So if there are issues with supervision of some particular groups or school groups or whatever it is, then the way to address that is by addressing it with that particular group. It’s certainly not to shut down the entire pool. And I think what’s going on here Chris, is that the bureaucrats in the Education Department, I suspect, don’t want this pool to be around.
Chris O’Keefe: I was going to ask that. So how many public schools would have swimming pools on site in New South Wales? There wouldn’t be many would there?
David Coleman: There wouldn’t be many, and I guess the department might see it as a bit of an anomaly, Chris, because as I said, it was funded back in the 60s by the community. And back then the school agreed to have it on the grounds, which was a good outcome for everyone because it meant the school kids could use it, the community could use it, and it basically continued along those lines since then. It’s still used for school events, girl guides swimming carnivals, all sorts of things. And I should say Chris, that the school itself has been great on this issue and there’s absolutely no blame here to attach to the school because they’ve always worked really well in the community. What’s happened here, I think, is some bureaucrats in the Education Department have decided, this is all a bit hard, let’s just shut the pool. And it’s not on. And the Minister, Prue Car, and I think in fairness to the Minister, she probably wasn’t advised of this, I would suspect. But I think the bureaucrats have just gone in completely the wrong direction.
Chris O’Keefe: But this is what they do. David, you’ve been a Minister, this is what they do. If it doesn’t fit neatly in a box, they just say no.
David Coleman: Well, that can be very true Chris. But the job of elected representatives is to think more broadly than that. And this is something that’s been there for 60 years and so I’d really like to see the Minister get her department back on track here. Sort out these issues and let’s get this pool open back up in the next few days. We’re in the middle of summer, it’s 35 degrees today and people can’t use the pool.
Chris O’Keefe: It’s not like it’s a huge facility either, it is just a little 25 metre joint. Hey David, I appreciate that, I’ll reach out to Minister Prue Car myself and see how we go, okay?
David Coleman: Okay, thanks Chris.
Chris O’Keefe: No thank you, thanks for taking it up. That’s David Coleman. He’s the Shadow Communications Minister and the Federal Member for Banks, which, of course, Peakhurst is in that electorate.