General News
19 December, 2025
Saving ‘heart and soul’ pool
BABINDA residents are outraged at a plan by Cairns Regional Council to permanently close the town’s 50-year-old Olympic-length swimming pool as early as next year.
The community has started a strong campaign to save the iconic facility after council’s release of a draft ‘aquatic facilities strategy’ last week.
In the document, the 50m, six-lane pool is the only aquatic asset in the whole council area earmarked for ‘retirement’.
One of those leading the fight to save the pool is Babinda-born Rosanna Lennon, who grew up frequenting the pool at events, carnivals and the like.
She says the revelation that council wants the facility closed has rocked the town, especially given the asset was funded and built by the community – not by council.
‘Shock and horror’
“Shock, horror and disbelief,” she said.
“I can’t imagine Babinda without a pool, I really can’t. This town will not let it happen. They’ve seriously underestimated the people in this town if they think we’re going to let that go.”
Another resident, Sheridan Morris, says council is looking at the facility from a narrow and strictly economic point of view.
“The pool is part of the fabric of Babinda society, and when you start dismantling that fabric, you actually start to impact the cohesion of the community,” she said after her morning swim.
“Like the library, this is not a profit-making entity and it’s there to service the community,” she said.
While council’s website says in bold text that “no decisions have been made” about the pool’s closure, on the very same page it appears the closure is already a commitment.
‘Should be closed’
The site says that due to its “aging infrastructure, non-compliance with current standards, very low demand combined with very high maintenance and running costs, council has resolved that the Babinda pool will be decommissioned as it reaches its end of life or when it becomes unsafe to use.”
Aloomba resident Allyce Ellems, a frequent user of the pool, has written directly to Mayor Amy Eden and councillors.
She and others are worried that council appears to be trying to trade off future, already-planned improvements to nearby ANZAC Park, against keeping and improving the pool.
“Council’s own publications state that the ANZAC Park redevelopment was already scheduled, with stage 1 due for completion by 2027, Ms Ellems wrote. “However, the aquatic strategy now claims that closing the pool will allow funds to be ‘reallocated’ to the park upgrade.
“This presents the upgrade as conditional on the pool’s closure, despite it being previously identified as part of the normal rotation.
“This is not genuine consultation – it is an ultimatum. Babinda should not be forced to sacrifice one essential community asset to receive another that was already planned.”
Councillor for the division covering Babinda, Brett Moller, argued in favour of saving the pool at last week’s council meeting.
Social consequences
He’s urging as many community members as possible to send in submissions if they want to see it retained and even upgraded.
“In small rural towns, the swimming pool is the heart and soul of the community,” Cr Moller said.
“We’ve got six schools in this district that utilise this pool and only a week or two ago, we had the small schools swimming carnival.”
Despite citing data which shows Babinda Pool has the lowest usage out of all Cairns aquatic facilities with a ‘catchment’ of only around 1500 potential users, Cr Moller says any decision on the pool’s future should not be made on economic rationale alone.
“We’ve also got to be mindful of the social and cultural consequences and that is what this pool is all about. Once we lose an asset, it’s very hard to get it back.”
The Babinda Taskforce plans to send in a submission to council about the pool’s future after holding a community meeting in late January or early February, which will be “advertised widely to encourage maximum attendance”.
