Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week, I was very pleased to attend the opening of the new Balaklava pool. It was the first time that the kids in Balaklava had been able to have a swim for three years. It was funded under the BBRF—50 per cent funding, of about $1.58 million. I congratulate Mayor Rodney Reid and his team for putting it together. It's now eight lanes instead of six. There is a splash pad and disability entry into the pool. It's a fantastic facility.

However, the scheme it was funded by, the BBRF, has now been scrapped by the current government. They scrapped round 6, though all the assessments had been done. Now, here we are, nine months later, and, despite the government telling us they were going to have a new funding program, we are yet to see anything of it or hear how my community, or any local community in Australia, may apply to it. I'm urging the government to get on with the job. I'm also giving the government the advice that this scheme, whatever it may look like, should not be reclassifying suburban metropolitan seats as regional, as they did with their previous effort in this area.

In closing—it's a bit of a gripe, I must say—I was pretty disappointed, after being invited to speak on the opening agenda, that the government, through the department, leaned on the council and told them, with 24 hours notice, to scratch me off the list, which they had to do. I spoke at the end, in any case. But let me say: that's petty politics. (Time expired)