My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Community Sport, and the action I seek is for the minister to provide an update on stage 2 of the North Bellarine aquatic and leisure centre. Stage 2 of the aquatic centre is to be built to complete a whole facility, and it will be built as an indoor facility - and I stress the word 'indoor' as this is what the community has fought for from the beginning. The indoor facility will be built alongside stage 1, which is currently an outdoor 50-metre pool. The stage 2 concept plans released last year did feature an indoor centre with an eight-lane 25-metre pool, a warm-water pool, a social space, a gymnasium and various associated facilities which have been made possible by a 20 million from the federal government.
This has been a very hot topic in my community in recent weeks, with the local Geelong council now deciding to close the outdoor pool for the cooler months. The community are indeed disappointed, and obviously this demonstrates the need for an indoor aquatic centre that they can use all year round. The community feel they have been let down by the Geelong city council and continue to fight this decision. But what I can say today is that when we listen to community and put them at the heart of decision-making, better outcomes are achieved, and that is exactly how the stage 2 indoor facility was developed. I look forward to hearing from the minister regarding the update of stage 2 of the North Bellarine aquatic and leisure centre.
