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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-09-06 Daily Xml
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Adelaide Aquatic Centre

Mr TARZIA (Hartley) (15:10): My question is to the Premier. Will the government's new swimming centre be owned and operated by Adelaide City Council or the state government?

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (15:10): I thank the honourable member for his question. We went to the election with a clear policy to upgrade the Adelaide Aquatic Centre. The existing Aquatic Centre is a very old facility. It's outdated, it has substantial structural issues, it's expensive to run. The engineering associated with the existing Aquatic Centre—heating infrastructure and the filtration facilities—is old, and it is clear, I think, to all and sundry that the upgrade is long overdue.

The Adelaide city aquatic centre at the moment represents a substantial burden on Adelaide city ratepayers. I am pretty sure I am right in saying this that over 80 per cent of its usage, or well over 80 per cent of its usage, comes from outside the Adelaide City Council area. Because of its old nature and the high operating costs, that burden flows straight through to Adelaide city ratepayers.

This is an issue that came to our attention through a number of means, one is through the Adelaide City Council itself; to their credit, they have been advocating for change in this area for a while. But really the strong sense of community support for change in this area came from the powerful advocacy of the member for Adelaide.

The member for Adelaide, for anyone who knows her, is an incredibly tenacious individual and fearless in her advocacy for her local community. Going back pretty much not too soon after her preselection as the Labor candidate for the seat of Adelaide, it became clear to her that this was a project that was worthy of change. We needed a new policy and we got to work. We were very proud that during the course of the election campaign that, along with the now member for Adelaide, we were able to launch our policy.

That policy, to put a bit more detail on it, is for us to build a brand-new aquatic centre and we will operate the facility. So the state government will own the facility and we will operate that facility. We have an open mind to how that operation might look. The Marion Aquatic Centre is done in partnership with another organisation—I believe it is the YMCA—so that is something that we are open-minded to, but it will be a state government-owned facility. It will be a state government-operated facility.

I know that recently on the back of our press conference yesterday announcing the precise location of the Aquatic Centre—a location that was developed again consistent with community consultation, which is consistent with our election policy, which is utterly consistent with the wishes advocated for by the member for Adelaide—when we announced that policy we made it clear that we were looking forward to ongoing productive engagement from the Adelaide City Council.

The Adelaide City Council, as we understand it as the government, is committed to financially supporting the project. I would particularly like to acknowledge Councillor Hyde, a former Liberal Party candidate for the seat of Waite, and Councillor Abrahimzadeh for sharing that enthusiasm for a new project. I note the fact that it was none other than Councillor Hyde, seconded by Councillor Abrahimzadeh, saying in a motion passed by the council last year that if this funding support can be achieved then the overall project cost to council could be in the order of $15 million to $20 million.

I was somewhat alarmed that Councillor Abrahimzadeh managed to erase his support for the very motion of Adelaide City Council support. Nevertheless, we enjoy productive relationships with the Adelaide City Council and hope that continues beyond the current caretaker period.

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