CEO told council budget approval not tied to pool demolition

An ex councillor has been cleared of misconduct for speaking out about the demolition of Bundaberg’s historic Anzac Pool, and meeting transcripts have revealed the CEO assured councillors they were not voting on the pool’s demolition before telling the public that is exactly what they’d done.

As the local government watchdog clears a former councillor of misconduct for speaking out about the demolition of historic Anzac Pool, meeting transcripts show the CEO assured councillors they were not voting on the pool’s demolition before telling the public that is exactly what they did.

A local government watchdog decision clearing Bundaberg mayoral candidate and former councillor Helen Blackburn of misconduct has shone the spotlight again on council’s handling of the controversial demolition of the historic Anzac Pool.

The allegation of misconduct was made against Ms Blackburn in a complaint to the Councillor Conduct Tribunal in April 2021, when she was Division 4 councillor and holder of the sport and recreation portfolio.

The complaint was based on a series of public comments made by Ms Blackburn around the lack of council involvement in the decision to demolish the pool as part of the Anzac Park redevelopment.

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In February 2020, Ms Blackburn told a member of the public via email that “councillors have not been involved in decision making regarding the decommissioning of Anzac Pool”.

The complaint alleged that Ms Blackburn’s comments were “demonstrably false and/or misleading”, given she had been present at meetings where the Anzac Park development had been discussed.

Work began on the demolition of Anzac Pool in September 2022, despite a number of community members being opposed.

On October 27, 2023 the CCT handed down its finding that Ms Blackburn had not engaged in misconduct, citing the concerns expressed by community members about the pool’s demolition and stating that the decisions taken by the council relating to pool’s fate “were not at all times transparent”.

In a media statement released on Monday, November 14, Ms Blackburn said “the loss of the Anzac Pool is something we will forever mourn”.

“I don’t think anyone can forgive this current council for demolishing such an important icon of our city, and for taking on massive debt to provide a $75 million replacement that no one wants,” Ms Blackburn said.

The day before Ms Blackburn’s statement, former councillor Mary Walsh posted a letter from March 2021 in which CEO Steve Johnston informed the Office of the Independent Assessor that, while the relocation of Anzac Pool had been discussed with the council “over a period of years”, he had not been able to find any record of the council formally resolving to close the pool.

In a March 2021 letter to the Office of the Independent Assessor, CEO Steve Johnston said he had found no record of council formally resolving to demolish Anzac Pool.

As the demolition of the pool began in September 2022, Mr Johnston responded to claims by Ms Walsh that the decommissioning of the pool was controversial by saying that councillors approved it when the 2022-23 Budget was adopted in a June 2022 council meeting.

However, a review of the recording of this meeting reveals an exchange between councillor Vince Habermann and Mr Johnston that contradicts this claim.

In the meeting, Mr Haberman asked whether an approval of the budget, which included line items for the pool’s demolition, was tantamount to ensuring that the demolition would go ahead.

CEO Steve Johnston told councillor Vince Habermann that approving the 2022/23 budget would not mean Anzac Pool would necessarily be demolished.

“If those line items remained in the budget, does that necessarily mean that the demolition would proceed, or is it possible for that decision to be reviewed if that remains in the budget?” Mr Habermann asked.

In response, Mr Johnston said “given that it’s a line item in the budget, that is council providing funding for the demolition”.

“That’s all it’s doing, is providing funding for the demolition,” Mr Johnston said.

Seeking clarification, Mr Habermann asked “so that doesn’t necessarily mean that demolition would proceed, it’s just providing funding in the event of demolition proceeding?”.

“Correct,” Mr Johnston replied.

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Following this exchange, the council approved the budget with only councillor Greg Barnes opposing, seemingly with the understanding that they were not approving the demolition of the pool, only the allocation of funding.

CEO Steve Johnston said the pool's demolition was contingent only upon whether local government minister Steven Miles (pictured) would issue a stop work notice.

In response to questions asking if his September 2022 statements were misleading, Mr Johnston said the powers delegated to him as CEO meant a council resolution was not needed in order for the demolition to proceed, and the pool’s fate was sealed when Local Government Minister Steven Miles said he would not intervene in the development.

“Funding for the demolition of Anzac Pool was provided in the budget on the basis that demolition would proceed unless an impediment arose,” Mr Johnston said.

“The decision could not be made at that time until we had clarity from the state government about whether or not the minister would issue a stop work notice.

“Council received advice that the minister would not issue a stop work notice in early July 2022.

“I never required a council resolution to proceed with the works and to suggest otherwise is nonsense.”