Public pools are vital community assets.

They are the places we learn to swim and stay safe around the water, access low-impact, inclusive exercise across our lifespan, create opportunities for social connection, and of course provide a place of refuge during extreme heat. 

But Victorian Labor’s decades of cuts to council funding is leaving many communities without access to a local pool.

Many regional and rural public pools urgently need upgrading, but skyrocketing maintenance and infrastructure costs mean that these treasured community spaces have become too expensive for councils to build, run, and maintain alone. Paired with chronic state government funding cuts, many councils are simply unable to fund these important community facilities.

Pool infrastructure isn’t keeping up with community needs. We can do better.

The Greens are calling on the government to:

• Guarantee that all Victorians can access a public pool by delivering a statewide plan to fund and support aquatic facilities.
• Create a public pool investment fund to support pools in areas of need, infrastructure renewal, and electrification to get pools off fossil fuels.
• Funding for learn to swim programs in every municipality

Join us in calling on the state government to support public pools.