Shadow Minister for Sport and Recreation James Milligan is calling on the Minister to be upfront with Canberrans regarding the short- and long-term future of public swimming pools in the ACT.

Mr Milligan has expressed concern, following reports that the YMCA is seeking to end its management of four pools across Canberra as well as the operator of Dickson pool.

“Canberrans are rightfully concerned about the future of public pools in the ACT, especially with Phillip pool remaining closed and recently sold to the developer Geocon,” Mr Milligan said.

“The Minister needs to stop dodging questions, come out and explain why operators are seeking to end management and guarantee that all public pools will remain open and available to the public.

“The public swimming pools that are currently in operation across Canberra provide many benefits to communities and we cannot afford to have pools not in operation like Phillip at the moment.

“The Barr-Rattenbury government has an appalling track record of providing municipal services to the public as highlighted recently with the Gungahlin pool debacle that saw the 50-metre pool closed for over two years.

“Canberrans deserve better than what they are getting from this Labor-Greens government, and it would be a tragedy for additional public swimming pools to be closed down or not in use,” Mr Milligan concluded.