Good lord, the ‘Sports Rort’ scandal just keeps on giving. This time Scotty from Marketing and his band of merry men have dug themselves into a hole roughly the size of North Sydney Olympic Pool. Well, exactly the size of that pool, actually.
The North Sydney Olympic Pool is the gorgeous pool underneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge and next to Luna Park. It’s been an iconic part of the harbour for the last 84 years, and even if you’ve never been you’ve probably seen pictures on Insta.
Like any building that’s 84 years old, the pool has needed some renovations. In the lead up to last year’s federal election, the Government announced a $10 million federal grant to renovate North Sydney Olympic Pool. All was well until the ‘sports rort’ scandal broke, and a bit of digging revealed that the grant came from The Female Facilities and Water Safety Stream program that was meant to give money to regional and remote areas.
Speaking to 7:30 the mayor of North Sydney, Jilly Gibson, assured everyone that the pool – which again, is located directly underneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge – was “definitely a regional facility”.
“We have people from all over the state coming to use our pool. It has a history of being a regional pool, also it’s a tourist attraction,” she said.
According to data from the 2016 census, the median weekly household income for someone living in North Sydney is $2,272.
Compare that to an actual regional area in NSW like Coffs Harbour, where the median weekly household income is $1,073. Or a rural NSW area like Broken Hill, where the median weekly household income is $962.
So for everyone living in regional and rural Australia who’s playing footy on a field with crumbling change rooms, or playing netball on a court that hasn’t been renovated since their grandma was a kid, take heart. At least the real regional areas – you know, the ones smack bang in the middle of Sydney – are getting taken care of.
It’s all been happening in Sydney this week. Listen to the GOAT Team chat about the Great Sydney Baboon Escape…
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