Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to update the House about my local community’s campaign to save Wentworthville pool from closure. I am pleased to say that two Fridays ago I presented Councillor Vasee Rajadurai from Holroyd City Council with a petition that was signed by over 1,100 local residents who want to keep the pool open. In a recent survey undertaken by The Sun Parramatta newspaper, local residents were asked: should Holroyd council close down its smaller pools and build a superpool? A resounding 90.9 per cent of those surveyed said no.

It is clear to me that the people of Pendle Hill, Toongabbie and Girraween want the pool to stay open. This includes people like George Roux, who wrote to me after signing my petition, urging me to keep up the fight on behalf of local residents. In his letter, Mr Roux raised the countless positive benefits of keeping the Wentworthville pool open, such as for school swimming carnivals, to encourage children to get active and stay healthy and to increase participation in learn-to-swim classes. I could not agree more.

The recent heatwave in Sydney was a timely reminder of how much this community needs a local swimming pool. If Wentworthville pool were to close, local families would have no reprieve from the heat that can engulf Western Sydney in particular. I would like to thank every one of the 1,181 people who signed my petition. I will continue to fight to keep Wentworthville pool open so that current and future generations can continue to enjoy this important community facility.