General News
27 June, 2026
Waiting game for pool
THE BABINDA community will have to wait until “late in 2026” before Cairns Regional Council makes a decision on the town’s pool after it was swamped with submissions.
Public submissions into council’s ‘draft aquatic strategy’ – which singles out Babinda pool as the only aquatic facility in its network for retirement – closed nearly two months ago.
But now, as the pool remains routinely shut over winter for maintenance, the community is playing a waiting game.
After further inquiries to council about timelines for when the issue will again be raised, The Observer received a general statement.
Council says that during its consultation period between December 2025 and the closing of submissions on 30 April, “a total of 1095 responses were submitted via the ‘Have your say’ survey and 21 responses were received from local schools via the school survey”.
“Beyond this, council also received a total of 19 submissions from various community members via the corporate email address, standard mail and the ‘Have your say’ email address.”
The statement went on to say that “council officers have commenced a detailed review of all the feedback received” and that, “given the extent of submissions, it will take some time and multiple workshops for council to work through them and consider any changes to the draft strategy.
“The proposed final strategy, inclusive of any amendments arising from community feedback, is expected to be presented to council for consideration late in 2026.”
One of those leading the campaign to save Babinda pool, Rosanna Lennon, says she is among several local residents who have applied to council under the ‘right to information’ process – for details and breakdowns of how money was spent on the pool over the past decade or so.
They’re hoping for responses by this week.
“We have a legal right to that information,” Ms Lennon said.
“Do not insult our intelligence. If council has decided to ‘refuse’ or ‘failed to comply’ with our RTI using convenient loopholes, simply say it,” she urged. She says there is no good enough reason to delay a decision on the pool until late in the year.
“If council since the 10th of December 2025 had no intention of providing information and have simply been playing with their food, then let’s move on, surely we have progressed to the next course,” Ms Lennon said.
“Council reiterates that no decision has been made on the final strategy and council’s aquatic facilities will continue to be operated in accordance with current practices,” the council statement said.
There might also be some comfort for the community in knowing that at this stage at least, the pool is planned to reopen again after the seasonal break.
“The Babinda pool routinely closes each year during winter. In line with this practice, the facility is currently scheduled to reopen on 6 September 2026 following its seasonal closure.”
The pool’s future was raised at last week’s council budget meeting by divisional representative Cr Brett Moller.
He told councillors that it was time for suburban focus in the budget instead of millions being spent on the CBD.
“ … here we are with the community of Babinda that’s facing a decommissioning of its pool, and while we are awaiting the survey results, we know anecdotally they are loud and clear – they want investment in a pool and an aquatic centre down there, as do our suburban pools at Edmonton, Woree and Smithfield,” Cr Moller said.
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