HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Member Index
House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-02-08 Daily Xml
Contents
Xml

Public Works Committee: Adelaide Aquatic Centre Development

Mr BROWN (Florey) (11:32): I move:

That the 45th report of the committee, entitled Adelaide Aquatic Centre Development, be noted.

The Department for Infrastructure and Transport (DIT) proposes to demolish and rebuild a new Adelaide Aquatic Centre. Located in the City of Adelaide's North Parklands, the Adelaide Aquatic Centre was built in 1969 and has now reached the end of its useful life. The project forms part of a 2022 state government election commitment to build a new Adelaide Aquatic Centre and will provide a regional-level aquatic and wellbeing centre that incorporates a wide range of aquatic and allied health functions.

The development is a key government social infrastructure project aiming to deliver world-class facilities and offer sporting groups, local residents and the broader community fit-for-purpose modern services and amenities. The scope will include the demolition of the existing centre and construction of the new facility on an adjoining site referred to as Park 2 of the City of Adelaide North Parklands. The existing centre's footprint will be returned to parklands for recreational and public uses and will result in no net loss of parklands, with the department noting that 1,000 square metres of parklands will be returned.

The new Adelaide Aquatic Centre will be a multistorey building and will provide indoor and outdoor swimming pools; an outdoor aquatic and landscape zone; allied health and fitness facilities and amenities; and improved connectivity, including additional car parking and improved pedestrian and cycling pathways.

The new development will provide more offerings for the community, including a 10-lane 50-metre indoor pool suitable for regional-level swimming carnivals, water sports and recreational use; a dedicated indoor learn-to-swim pool, which will increase the number of learn to swim places from 1,200 to 3,000; a warm water pool for rehabilitation programs; an outdoor 8-lane 25-metre pool with a separate lagoon edge for swimming, water polo and recreational use; outdoor aquatic splash play spaces with shade structures and outdoor areas; and water slides to also be installed as part of the project scope.

Pedestrian and cycle pathways to enable connection of the Parklands trails with the centre and extensive landscaping and native plantings will complete the outdoor aquatic and landscape zone. The development will also provide an increase in car park spaces to accommodate for the projected increase in users. The capital cost of the development is $135 million and construction is anticipated to commence in April of this year, with practical completion in summer 2025-26.

The Adelaide Aquatic Centre falls within the Adelaide Park Lands and City Layout, which is a commonwealth heritage-listed place protected by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. It has been determined that the project is consistent with the heritage values of the Adelaide Park Lands and City Layout. DIT is working with the City of Adelaide on a native tree replacement strategy to improve the mature tree canopy and the return to Parklands zone. The returned space will also incorporate sporting fields, landscaping and the continuation of existing pedestrian, cycle and access pathways.

The project will deliver a Green Star Building, through integrating the natural environment and committing to sustainable building design and construction. Sustainable development principles have been adopted and will incorporate sustainable technology as part of the project. DIT has encompassed these principles through active design strategies designed to minimise greenhouse gas emissions and resources over the life cycle of the project, ensuring that climate change risks, such as increased temperatures and rainfall patterns, have been considered. These strategies will incorporate building a fully electric facility capable of carbon-neutral operation; having energy efficient lighting, heating and cooling; incorporating double glazing and promoting natural ventilation.

Delivery of the project will require contractors to work under the environmental heritage and sustainability requirements of the department. An environmental management plan addressing key environmental and heritage components and compliance with relevant legislation will be developed to ensure that the environmental risks associated with the project are appropriately managed. DIT is aware of associated risks and will ensure correct project management strategies are in place to identify, assess and mitigate risks, with an active risk register to be developed and implemented throughout the project.

Extensive consultation advising on the location, building design and types of included facilities has been undertaken with community groups and relevant stakeholders. A community reference group, representing a range of key community interests, including local residents, businesses, the Adelaide Park Lands Association and entities affiliated with the existing Adelaide Aquatic Centre, was established to provide indepth analysis and consultation on the proposed project. Late last year, 1,200 people, inclusive of over 60 user groups, provided valuable input in relation to the functionality for the new Adelaide Aquatic Centre. Consultation with the Office for Recreation, Sport and Racing; the City of Adelaide; the City of Prospect; and the City of West Torrens has also occurred.

Preparation of a community and stakeholder management plan has been prepared to provide an overview of these communication activities during the construction phase to provide relevant stakeholders, local residents, property owners and businesses with continual updates and engagement on the project.

After consultation with the Attorney-General's Department's Aboriginal affairs unit, it was determined that there are no registered or reported Aboriginal sites, objects or ancestral remains within the project area. An assessment of the risk of encountering previously unknown and unrecorded Aboriginal heritage sites has been undertaken and has established that there is a low risk. DIT has stated that it will utilise discovery protocols should an inadvertent discovery be made during construction. There are no state, local or contributory non-Aboriginal heritage-listed places expected to be directly impacted by the project.

The committee examined written and oral evidence in relation to the Adelaide Aquatic Centre development. Witnesses who appeared before the committee were Simon Morony, Executive Director, Infrastructure Delivery, Department for Infrastructure and Transport; Kylie Taylor, Chief Executive, Office of Recreation, Sport and Racing; and Josephine Evans, Director of JPE Design Studio. I thank the witnesses for their time.

Based upon the evidence considered and pursuant to section 12C of the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991, the Public Works Committee reports to parliament that it recommends the proposed public work.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley) (11:39): Obviously, on this side of the chamber, we support the building of the Adelaide Aquatic Centre. As has been pointed out by the member, this was a facility that was built in 1969 and it has come to the end of its life and needs to be replaced, but we still have a number of questions when it comes to this particular facility. A number of questions were asked in the committee, but in my humble opinion there are still some that remain unanswered, and we will be keeping a close eye on things in that regard.

Going in to the election many out there thought that this was going to be a redevelopment, something in the order of $80 million. Now we see that it has increased—blown out, you might even say—to a cost out to $135 million and who knows what we will actually end up with once this is finalised. Some are saying that is a lot of extra money for just a waterslide—a very expensive waterslide indeed.

Those opposite have said in the past that the existing centre would stay open while the replacement facility is built. You do not just have to take my word for it, that is what residents of the City of Adelaide have told me. That was their understanding, that is what they were told, and they still remain out there very, very disappointed.

What this government has failed to do is to take into consideration the human aspect of relocating a number of these families. There are kids at the moment who have Learn to Swim programs, whether it is during the school holidays or whether it is during the regular season, and you cannot just relocate all these families to facilities that are in the vicinity of the location. Some of them are now inconvenienced, very much so, and are having to travel far greater distances. On top of that, you also have a very vulnerable cohort, sometimes elderly residents, who do rehabilitation in some of these facilities. Many of them do not drive, they rely on public transport. They are now having to go to other parts of the city for similar treatment.

So this is a backflip by this government, one minute saying that the existing aquatics centre would stay open and the next minute saying it will be closing around August. That is a clear broken promise and we are calling them out for it. Not only has the project taken longer, not only is it costing more than expected but the promise of having the centre open has been backflipped on and that is leading to other additional incurred expenses through this promise of somewhat alternative accommodation.

When I listen to some of the evidence, I think some of those relocation plans have not really been thought out, especially since some of these people in the middle of winter are being asked to go to pools that just do not have the appropriate level of facilities. We know that there are a number of schools that use the facilities for recreation and they will have to relocate. Time will tell how that goes and whether that relocation actually exists. As you know, sir, I am a young father myself and I have the great fortune of watching my little one go to swimming lessons, and let me tell you every time I go there it is absolutely packed because there is such demand for what is a crucial skill for young people to develop.

The other thing to raise here is about the economic credentials of this government when it comes to their investments around these sorts of things. Under the former Liberal government we planned, if elected, to invest $25 million towards a new aquatics centre, but we also wanted to make sure that other bodies had skin in the game as well because it would be responsible to do so. If you look at The ARC facility in my electorate, I think it is the best facility of its kind in the world, in fact. That was a great collaboration between state government, federal government, local government and private organisations coming together for what is an outstanding facility. But, alas, not here. We see the government basically writing a cheque for the entire project, although I understand that the council is contributing some early works.

At the end of the day, that is what socialism is, is it not? You just keep going until you run out of other people's money—what can I say? Is it financially prudent to not have a contribution from other relevant stakeholders for this kind of facility? The other question I ask is: if it is okay for this facility, what about every other facility? Is this a new precedent by this Labor government, that they will just take the bill—they will just pick up the bill, they will pick up the tab, for any infrastructure project like this? The cynic out there might say that they will only do it where they think that it is of merit from a political point of view. How about that? Would that not just be outrageous? Time will tell whether that is money well spent.

I have to say, I am looking forward to seeing how this goes. I think there would have been a more prudent option, and that is to allow funding channels to be enabled by bodies like the council, and the federal government as well, because we all know that when we pull together, pool our resources together, then we will be able to achieve better value for taxpayer dollars. At the end of the day, there are needs and there are wants, and there is a finite level of resources out there. This is economics 101, which this government does not seem to understand. I think they could have got a better deal when it comes to producing the funding for this model.

The opportunity cost now means that we are going to be missing out on other facilities across the state where there need to be those upgrades. That is not going to occur now because the government has seen fit to bankroll the whole thing. I look around and I see there are many electorates that I know would benefit from increased funding and resources in their recreational facilities. My fear is now that that will not occur because of what the government has done here. I think that they could have maximised taxpayer value for money a bit better.

In saying that, we will wait to see how the project goes. We will continue to monitor the time lines and the costings. As I said, we do accept that the Adelaide Aquatic Centre needed to be redeveloped. It is just about the journey of how we got here. We would have liked to see that being a bit different.

Mr BATTY (Bragg) (11:47): I thank the Public Works Committee for their report on the Adelaide Aquatic Centre redevelopment. I want to make a brief contribution to highlight three promises from those opposite that have evaporated in respect to the Adelaide Aquatic Centre.

The first of those is with respect to costs before the election. We see an $80 million commitment to the new Adelaide Aquatic Centre. Fast forward a couple of years to where we are at, and that price tag has already, before we have even commenced construction, blown out to $135 million—a $135 million water slide. This is a huge cost blowout by this Labor government during a cost-of-living crisis. That is the first promise that has evaporated, with respect to the Adelaide Aquatic Centre.

The second was a very clear and explicit promise from those opposite that the Adelaide Aquatic Centre, the current facility, would remain open while the new centre is being built. Allow me to quote the member for Adelaide, from before the election. She said, and I quote:

…the current facility will continue to operate while we build the new centre—meaning the hundreds of thousands of visitors, locals and families who rely on this service each year won't miss out during the upgrade.

Well, that promise has been broken, just like the first promise, and those hundreds of thousands of people that the member for Adelaide was so concerned about before the election have been left high and dry now for a year or two or more while the new facility is being built. It is a great shame that that promise has simply evaporated.

The third and final promise that has evaporated with this new Adelaide Aquatic Centre is with respect to the Adelaide Parklands. They promised us, before the last election, that they would protect Adelaide's unique Parklands. They have broken that promise with alarming speed and alarming severity at every single opportunity, whether it be at the Thebarton barracks and the absolute debacle in trying to move some horses; whether it be not supporting legislation in this place to heritage-list the Adelaide Parklands; or whether it be now, in this case, paying total disregard to the preservation of the Parklands in this new Adelaide Aquatic Centre redevelopment.

I hear from those opposite that this is going to expand the footprint of the Parklands. Well, forgive me for simply not believing those opposite when it comes to making promises with respect to the Parklands. They have shown their true colours over the past couple of years, and they are doing it again here with the Adelaide Aquatic Centre, and it is very disappointing. We will continue to watch this development. In the meantime, we utterly condemn three broken promises on cost, on keeping the centre open and on protecting our Parklands with respect to the Adelaide Aquatic Centre.

Mr BROWN (Florey) (11:50): I would like to thank those who have made contributions. I would like to thank the member for Bragg for his consistency on this particular project. The hostility that we get from him about the Adelaide Aquatic Centre redevelopment continues, and I can certainly admire his consistency on the issue.

As for the member for Hartley, I must say I did enjoy listening to him wax lyrical about economics and government finance in general. After that contribution, it is no wonder some people say he is completely wasted where he is in the Liberal Party and he really should be elevated. I would also like to put his mind and potentially, even possibly, the member for Bragg's mind at ease. The issue of relocation of facilities during construction was canvassed quite considerably at the committee meeting at which the member for Hartley was present. A number of questions were asked, and I feel the department's responses were quite good, fulsome, and went a long way towards assuaging people's concerns about the issue.

I think this is a great project. I think it will be not only fantastic for the people of Adelaide but great for everyone across the city of Adelaide, and also the state as a whole, and I look forward to it being built.

Motion carried.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT