General News
26 August, 2026
Aquatic centre to reopen
THE beleaguered Babinda pool is set to reopen on Monday 7 September, following its annual winter closure.
A Cairns Regional Council spokeswoman said during the scheduled closure, annual maintenance and cleaning was undertaken, including garden and grounds maintenance, regular water treatment, balancing, backwashing and dosing, assessment and servicing of mechanical equipment, electrical works, pressure cleaning and painting.
The aquatic centre features a 50m swimming pool, a covered grandstand with seating for up to 400 people and a barbecue area.
The Babinda community is waging a fierce battle to save the pool from permanent closure.
The 56-year-old pool –originally constructed and funded by the local community – is currently the subject of a strong campaign to save it from permanent closure.
Tensions escalated sharply at the end of 2025 when council publicised its plans to retire the ageing facility within the next one to two years under a draft ‘aquatic strategy’ – which singles out Babinda’s pool for closure but proposes keeping all other council pools in its regional network.
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