Fiona Carrick: Woden needs an aquatic centre

On Saturday, ACT Labor announced it would build a new aquatic centre in Commonwealth Park. Fiona Carrick, Independent candidate for Murrumbidgee, believes that southside residents’ needs are neglected, and called for the government to plan a new aquatic centre in Woden before all suitable sites in the area are sold to developers.

“The announcement of a new Aquatic Centre in Commonwealth Park continues the consolidation of social infrastructure in the inner north and fails to address the long-standing need for better access to aquatic facilities for residents of Woden, Weston Creek and parts of the Inner South,” Ms Carrick said.

Woden and the inner south only have one 50-metre swimming pool: the Phillip Swimming and Ice Skating Centre. Ms Carrick fears the pool’s days are numbered after developer Geocon bought it at the end of 2022.

Ms Carrick, former president of the Woden Valley Community Council, and other locals are concerned that Geocon would replace the 50-metre outdoor pool with a 25-metre indoor pool – as rezoning would allow – and, eventually, close the facility and build a high-rise development on the valuable site, near the WOVA apartments.

“Phillip Pool could be saved with political will, but the Labor/Greens government has shown no interest in doing that,” Ms Carrick said. “The ACT Government failed to step in and find a solution to the ongoing viability of the pool.”

The Phillip pool, closed for a couple of years, was reopened last year, but is shut for maintenance until November.

In the meantime, Woden and Weston Creek residents who want to swim in a 50-metre pool must either go to Tuggeranong or to the Stromlo Leisure Centre (which Ms Carrick says is difficult to access by public transport).

“With the rapidly increasing population in the area, the Woden region needs a centrally located aquatic centre that is easily accessible by public and active transport,” Ms Carrick said.

Ms Carrick supports a community group formed in 2023, Save Phillip Pool, which has called on candidates in the October Legislative Assembly election to state their position and plans for the pool’s future.

“Murrumbidgee’s growing population needs places where the community can gather,” Ms Carrick said. “I have repeatedly heard how important this issue is to the local community. The ACT Government must do better in meeting the needs of our region for social infrastructure.”

Independents for Canberra candidate Anne-Louise Dawes commented: “I am all for saving the Phillip Pool, particularly as a swimmer that uses it. Opponents easily attack ‘saving the pool’ on the basis that the Phillip Pool has ageing infrastructure, has a tendency to leak chlorinated water into the soil beneath it, and has been run privately, and at a loss, we are led to believe, for some time.

“I would rather have a conversation about the best way to service the need in and around Woden. Swimming is a national pastime, which is why local councils financially support pools Australia-wide. Listening to people in this electorate: yes, we need a 50-metre pool in Woden; yes, we would like it to be outdoors; in fact, people ask if we could open it year-round to follow other major Australian cities.

“I am wary of election promises and their tendency not to be delivered. If Phillip Pool cannot be saved, can we at least have a clear-headed conversation about a long-term plan for aquatic facilities servicing Woden and surrounds?”

ACT Labor was asked for comment.

ACT Labor: Nurse-led care in schools

ACT Labor has promised to set up full-time nurse-led clinics in four public colleges, staffed by Advance Practice Nurses.

The clinics would offer preventive health services, mental health support, sexual and reproductive health services, and treatment and care for minor injuries and illnesses.

Nurses would regularly visit other public colleges and hold health sessions, working with an expanded School Youth Health Nurse Program, which would visit every public high school in the ACT.

Labor also plans to employ 15 more school psychologists or mental health practitioners in ACT public schools, helping students with personal or academic challenges.

“Accessing primary care can be expensive and challenging for families,” a Labor spokesperson said. “These college clinics, additional staff and the expanded School Youth Health Nurse Program in high schools, will make it faster, easier and more affordable for young people to receive the care they need, taking the pressure off families.”

The ACT Greens have promised to run free GP clinics over Canberra, which they say would make healthcare more accessible for everyone, including young people.

“More access to health services means more people can get the support they need to live well,” a spokesperson said. “But some young people prefer to access health services outside of the school campus, so we need to ensure there are free, accessible services in the community.

“The ACT Greens’ plan for youth mental health supports young people no matter where they sit on the continuum of need, all delivered for free in the community. We will establish a safe, free and easy to access youth mental health drop-in and permanently fund free youth mental health programs.”

The ACT Greens will announce education initiatives soon.

Belco Party: Parks and gardens

The Belco Party has proposed that the 1980s in-house model of Parks and Gardens be brought back, rather than the government outsourcing to contractors.

Bill Stefaniak, Belco Party co-convenor and candidate for Ginninderra, unfavourably compared the maintenance of the ACT’s public spaces to nearby NSW towns.

“Canberrans often complain about how badly maintained our sporting grounds, parks, open spaces, footpaths, shops and roads have become under this current government,” Mr Stefaniak said.

Alan Tutt, candidate for Ginniderra, and his friend Phil Hogan, who ran the North Canberra Parks and Gardens depot, recalled that in the 1980s, dedicated teams of gardeners, arborists, drivers, labourers and street maintenance workers maintained sporting fields, parks, roads, and footpaths, “with the grass regularly and neatly mowed, and shopping centres clean and rubbish-free”.

“Phil told me that the various depots across the ACT would compete to be the best at getting a cricket pitch on a suburban oval prepared and looking neat and tidy. We are certainly not seeing that anymore.”

The Belco Party argues that reintroducing Parks and Gardens would create jobs.

“With the advent of self-government and economic rationalism, these dedicated workers were supplanted by contractors,” Mr Tutt said. “The old regime was also responsible for employing many apprentice arborists, gardeners, mechanics and even plumbers, and many young Canberrans got their start by working for Parks and Gardens. It’d be great to see the next generation of young Canberrans get an opportunity to enter the workforce and address the skills shortage that exists here.”

Mr Stefaniak suggested that the costs of reintroducing Parks and Gardens might not be significantly higher than current spending on contractors, and that the advantages would outweigh any additional expenses.

“I don’t believe it really would be much more expensive if we brought back Parks and Gardens,” Mr Stefaniak said. “A lot of contract workers would find fulltime work there, and probably with better terms and conditions of employment.

“The next government could do some costings and compare what we are paying now for substandard service to what it would cost to reintroduce Parks and Gardens, including the cost of apprenticeships and traineeships. The benefits of this scheme would, however, go far beyond the cost, and I’d be surprised if it was very much more expensive at any rate.”