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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-06-28 Daily Xml
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Adelaide Aquatic Centre

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley) (14:40): My question again is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Has the minister contacted all leaseholders of the Adelaide Aquatic Centre? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: As of last week the opposition has been informed that all leaseholders have not been given written assurance of their relocation. One lease alone is in the tens of thousands of dollars. As has been reported, the Aquatic Centre is reported to close in August next year, with a new centre due for completion in summer 2025-26, meaning that facilities could be out of operation for at least 16 months.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:41): I haven't personally, no, but I understand the Office for Recreation and Sport and the Adelaide City Council, who owns the current facility and who are the people who the lease is with, have made contact. I will check to make sure on the accuracy of that, but that's the information I have from my memory. The difficulty here is that we are dealing with a facility that we don't actually own. It's owned and operated by the Adelaide City Council. We will be building a brand-new facility that we will own and operate.

The Hon. V.A. Tarzia interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: No, we are not kicking people out. We are building a brand-new facility that members opposite for the entire four years they were in office did absolutely nothing to improve.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: In fact, they boasted about some imaginary deal with the commonwealth government—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hartley!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —that never existed. It didn't even exist—not a dollar.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hartley!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Elder!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: So we are working with the users of the facilities to make sure we can find alternatives for them. I don't walk away from this. This is a difficult decision. Closing the pool is a difficult outcome, as opposed to—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister has the call.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —the easy decision, which members opposite took, of doing nothing, absolutely nothing. Instead of pretending that they have—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —some imaginary deal with the commonwealth government and that they were somehow going to come to the party with tens of millions of dollars—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morphett!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —which never actually occurred. Instead, we have put money on the table. We are prepared to run this community facility—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Colton!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —in the public good, because this facility isn't just for the people of the City of Adelaide. This is a facility that people across the state will use. It is an important piece of state infrastructure. Learning how to swim, a recreation centre like this is an important piece of infrastructure, and we are very keen to make sure it is a success. So the office of recreation and sport, my department—

The Hon. V.A. Tarzia interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hartley is on a final warning.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —and the Adelaide City Council are working very, very hard. We have given the users of the pools over a year's notice of what we are intending to do, and in the end we are building a brand-new facility for the very people that the member for Hartley is claiming are being wronged—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —and being done harm by. We are building a new facility for them. I have to say—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hartley!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —my young friend can't seem to think more than two moves ahead and thinking more than two moves ahead is very, very important—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —because it is important that this infrastructure be rebuilt—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Reynell! Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —to ensure that this infrastructure lasts a long period of time for those potential users.

The Hon. V.A. Tarzia interjecting:

The SPEAKER: That is right, member for Hartley: 137A, for the remainder of question time.

The honourable member for Hartley having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: We are very keen to work with all the users. We are consulting, we are talking to the users, but again I accept that there will be some people who will be upset about the facility closing. One person whose story has really affected all of us is the 87-year-old gentleman who uses that pool, who says that it is part of his everyday social activity. That is very difficult, but everyone, I think, understands the long-term ambition of the government to build a new facility that is going to last generations, that is going to be there for the long term.

It is going to be a bigger and better facility that is going to serve our community exceptionally well. It will keep what we currently have and offer us a better alternative. It will also incorporate the Parklands, and it will also incorporate two new playing fields rather than one. It will be a better outcome than what we had. Sometimes, the tough decisions are the right ones.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

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