Don Randall (Canning, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Energy and Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is a clear priority for the Pinjarra community: the long awaited and greatly anticipated Pinjarra pool. Unfortunately the project is drowning. It is now time-sensitive as options run dry and existing funding is jeopardised by the lack of federal government support. For years Pinjarra has been anticipating the pool. They want a place where they can come together, take swimming classes and undergo rehabilitation without having to travel far and wide. If the Rudd government was serious about putting working families first, it would take another look at its axing of the pool funding.

As a strong advocate of the project for the Shire of Murray, I was pleased the coalition delivered, not promised, $1.1 million for the pool in 2007. The funding was under the Regional Partnerships program and it was cruelly torn up by Mr Rudd. The Shire of Murray’s application for local community infrastructure funding earlier this year was unsuccessful. The shire was rightly confident about its chances because the pool project was and remains ready for construction as soon as the last piece of funding is secured. In fact, of the $7 million required for the project, $5 million has already been approved by the Barnett government, Alcoa, Alinta and of course the shire itself. Securing the final $2 million would enable the project to get underway immediately. The pool would be of huge benefit to the wider Peel region. If the government is more serious about substantive community infrastructure than celebratory signs, it will consider throwing some of coalition’s savings it is rapidly spending towards the Pinjarra pool. It is a highly worthy project that the community certainly deserves.