General News
1 April, 2026
‘Hoppo’ to the rescue
BABINDA’S campaign to save its town pool has been buoyed by a visit by Bondi Rescue star Bruce ‘Hoppo’ Hopkins, who says the pool is a vital facility for survival skills, learning to swim and physical and mental health.
The 50m pool is earmarked for closure as early this year and the local community has been campaigning fiercely to save the facility.
The community organised Hoppo’s visit to the pool to help highlight its plight and to conduct ‘Float to Survive’ swimming sessions for both adults and children.
Mr Hopkins told The Observer he was impressed by Babinda’s community strong spirit in wanting to keep its public pool.
“It’s really important for little communities to keep their pools because it gives a whole range of things,” he said.
“It gives kids opportunity to learn survival skills, learn to swim, even adults as well, to come somewhere. It also helps fitness.
“People can come and swim laps, and that’s good for their fitness and also mental health, and also gives them somewhere to come to, you know, meet other people and community.
“So it’s a good community activity for everybody. And if you take that away, it’s amazing how much you lose within the community social base.”
Mr Hopkins said the pool was an important community asset which should not be taken away.
“Whether you’re a young kid or whether you’re an adult, it’s something that you know helps, because if you take it away, they’re going to go somewhere else,” he said.
“They’re going to go rivers, dams, they’re going to go to other areas that are a little bit more remote, no-one’s really watching them, whereas this is a bit more controlled in a pool and it’s something that I think the communities should keep.”
Submissions for Cairns Regional Council’s draft aquatic strategy – under which Babinda is the only pool designated for retirement – are being taken until 30 April.
Councillor (Div. 1) Brett Moller, among those attending Hoppo’s Babinda visit, said the community response had been strong.
“We’ll be looking for those responses,” he said.
“We’ll be taking on board the messaging from community and a further recommendation will then come back through council, back out into community.” Cr Moller said he could not say yet what will happen, when a decision on Babinda pool’s retirement came down to a council vote.
“The process is that council receives a recommendation, you read through the report, you listen to the debate on the floor and that’s where you make your decision,” he said.
“So, we can’t pre-empt anything. But what I’m seeing here is a very strong community response from Babinda – and as expected.”
Rosanna Lennon, who helped organise Hoppo’s trip, said she was “chuffed” that Australia’s most well-known surf lifesaver made the effort to come all the way from Sydney to Babinda to join the community’s campaign.
“I just still can’t believe it, that someone’s flown all this way, with his expertise and recognised that this town – we’ve got a need,” she told The Observer.
“He’s a wanted man elsewhere you know, but he’s flown in to save us,” she said.
“We’ve got to push this story further than our own boundaries and our vision. And I don’t really think that this is just about a pool.
“It’s about country towns having a bit of a voice, being just as much valued and our essential needs being fulfilled, the same as everywhere else.”
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