General News
28 March, 2026
Where was the $3m spent?
BABINDA Taskforce is making a formal request for Cairns Regional Council to release detailed breakdowns of how millions of dollars in so-called maintenance ‘subsidies’ have been paid out over the past decade for the upkeep and repairs of Babinda pool.
The taskforce has applied for the information through a legal avenue – a ‘right to information’ (RTI) request – which it hopes will shed more light on why the facility appears to have missed out on any improvement and been let to run down over the years.
According to council, $279,000 is provided each year as an “annual routine maintenance subsidy” for the pool, and a total of more than $3 million has gone towards the facility’s upkeep over the past decade.
The taskforce is researching as much background as possible as it prepares a comprehensive submission arguing why the 50m pool should be saved, in the face of a council aquatic ‘strategy’ which all but concludes the facility should be retired as early as this winter.
Taskforce (Babinda District Community Association) president Dalitta Wright has told The Observer the organisation will also approach the pool’s contracted operator Marlin Coast Swimming and Fitness for more detailed information.
“Basically, as part of the RTI, we’re looking for again, monthly reporting, the maintenance records, the safety records,” Ms Wright said.
“We are looking to go back, so asset management strategies from back to 20 years ago if we can, but the last 10 years of more of detailed information,” she said.
The association is taking the RTI avenue after already trying to obtain information through a regular, informal request – but receiving back little detail about maintenance and capital expenditure on the pool.
Because any response from council is expected to take up to six weeks, the taskforce is well aware the information it is seeking is unlikely to be disclosed before public submissions about the pool’s future are shut off on Thursday, April 30.
But Ms Wright says the community has a right to know much more about the pool’s upkeep and the information will hopefully help give the mayor and councillors a more informed decision before they ultimately decide the pool’s fate at an upcoming council meeting.
“We, as ratepayers, do have a right to understand where the money has been spent over the years on our asset – what was a community asset, I guess is more to the point,” she said.
“We do understand that there will be a period of time between when submissions close and when council considers the results of the community engagement period, where we will be able to use that information to hopefully influence an outcome.”
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