Basil Zempilas has reaffirmed his support for the Perth City Deal after the state government lashed the city's councillors for voting against developing a public swimming pool at the WACA Ground.
Basil Zempilas has reaffirmed his support for the Perth City Deal after the state government lashed councillors for voting against the development of a public swimming pool at the WACA Ground.
The Western Australian Cricket Association had secured $30 million for major renovations from the federal and state governments, as well as a further $4 million from Cricket Australia, in March, as per City of Perth’s $1.5 billion city deal.
The final design for the site was unveiled in March and was set to feature a 50-metre swimming pool and water leisure slides, alongside a museum, gym and major cricket facilities.
Commenting on the project’s announcement at the time, Mr Zempilas expressed trepidation about the ongoing costs of operating a public swimming pool while stating it would be “absolutely brilliant” for the city to have one.
An independent assessment of the business plan, courtesy of ACIL Allen, was published at last night’s council meeting, with the expected financial impact to include a $31.2 million capital outlay and $3 million in annual operating subsidies over a 40-year lifespan.
That was in addition to expectations of a negative impact on the city’s long-term financial plan and minimal contribution to the city’s strategic community plan.
Councillors were, in turn, advised not to proceed with the plan, with none voting in favour of the proposal.
While Premier Mark McGowan said the city had gone back on the Perth City Deal and had failed the community in voting against the proposal, Mr Zempilas today disputed that assertion.
"The premier knows that's not right," Mr Zempilas said.
"We are still a party, huge players in the Perth City Deal ... that is going to be transformational for the city.
"But he [Mr McGowan] and everyone else who were a party to the deal being constructed know that the acquatic swimming facility at the WACA was always subject to the business case being presented and considered.
"The only change ... out of last night is on the WACA acquitic facility.
"It's that part of the deal that's changed; nothing else has changed."
Mr Zempilas said he had been surprised by the tone of Mr McGowan's statement.
"Some of the things that have been said, quite frankly, sound like you have to crawl over broken glass on bended knee through the desert to get to the next swimming facility in the metropolitan area," he said.
"We're talking about an area of Perth that has lots of swimming facilities already in private residential complexes, and of course there are a myriad of pools in the surrounding area.
"Do I think a swimming facility in the City of Perth is a good thing? Yes I do.
"But I don't believe, and nor do any of my councillors ... that the deal we had in front of us was a financially responsible one for the City of Perth."
Councillor Di Bain said she supported building a swimming pool at the WACA site because of the opportunity it represented for prospective residents and investors, but was saddened at the lack of a cost-effective solution at present.
“Having a pool here and having another icon pool somewhere else is not mutually exclusive,” she said.
“I challenge us as council to in the future take a can-do approach to working out how we make even the most challenging situations work.”
In an email sent earlier this morning to ratepayers, councillor Brent Fleeton said the city had directed the administration to come up with a partnership model that would work for the city.
“This will be brought back to us when available in the coming months for an investment decision,” he said.
“We are not backing out, we're just getting a better deal for ratepayers now and long after we are gone.”
Councillors are "walking away" from Perth City Deal: Carey
Member for Perth and Local Government Minister John Carey said the state government was disappointed in the city's decision and took aim at ACIL Allen's findings.
“We don’t agree with the assumptions made in their report," he said.
“We believe that the report makes a number of failed assumptions, including patronage over future years, particularly given it ignores future population growth in the city."
Mr Carey said the report demonstrated a worst-case scenario.
"It makes the most conservative estimates and makes the project look as though it is set to fail," he said.
“It doesn’t even relate to the city’s own population growth targets.”
James Hayward, the opposition's local government spokesperson, sided with the council, saying no council in the state would've supported the proposal.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous that the state government would have a hissy fit because it didn’t get its own way," he said.
“In terms of what was being proposed there, it had some real challenges and it wasn’t really all that workable.
