General News
5 September, 2026
Town’s pool ‘set up to fail’
THE future of the Babinda pool remains under a dark cloud, sparking growing frustration among local residents as Cairns Regional Council continues to resist calls for weekend operating hours ahead of its scheduled spring reopening.
Set to open its doors on Monday 7 September following annual winter maintenance, the pool will operate strictly on a weekday schedule from 6am to 11am and 1pm to 6pm.
The decision leaves families, workers and weekend recreation seekers shut out – forcing many to travel long distances or miss out entirely.
Local campaigner and surf lifesaver Fergus Darveniza, who earlier this year completed a 32-kilometre charity swim to raise funds for the Starlight Foundation and draw attention to the pool’s plight, believes the current operating model sets the facility up to fail.
“Opening the pool on weekends is important because it increases the opportunity for people to actually use the facility,” he said. “A lot of families and people who work during the week simply don’t have the same opportunity to access the pool during weekday operating hours.”
Mr Darveniza pointed out the flaw in assessing the pool’s viability based on suppressed usage figures.
“You can’t take a service away from a community and then judge the level of demand once that service is gone,” Mr Darveniza said.
“If other pools in the district are open on weekends and public holidays, naturally they’re going to have more opportunities to attract users.
“Babinda needs to be given a similar opportunity before we make assumptions about how well utilised the facility can be.”
Beyond weekend recreation, water safety remains the core issue for a township.
While Babinda is famed for its freshwater spots, the local community stresses that creeks and rivers are no substitute for a structured facility.
“Babinda is surrounded by swift water. Having a still-water environment where people can safely learn to swim isn’t a luxury – it’s an essential service,” Mr Darveniza said.
“Crocodiles are moving further into the waterways around us. Places that people once considered normal swimming holes can no longer be treated that way.
“We’ve already had a 5m-long crocodile removed from a cane drain near a popular Babinda swimming area. As access to natural swimming holes becomes more restricted by crocodile risk, the importance of the pool actually increases.”
Community sentiment online echoed the call for urgent change following council’s announcement of the September reopening.
In response to the newspaper’s queries regarding weekend access and long-term security, council would not budge from its previous positions.
In a statement it confirmed the pool “will continue to be operated in accordance with current practices,” while council reviewed public feedback under the draft Cairns Aquatic Facilities Strategy, due to be presented to council “late in 2026”.
