Thousands of residents in Melbourne’s east are pushing back on a move to outsource the management of two of their public pools to a private operator, which the mayor says may be a necessity to shore up the council’s financial position.
Whitehorse Council, which includes Blackburn, Box Hill and Vermont, will next week begin community consultation on a decision it made at an in-camera meeting in February last year to “explore an alternative management model” where the pool premises would stay owned by the council, but a private provider would run staff, pool operation and swim classes.
The Box Hill Aqualink complex.Credit: Penny Stephens
If the council moves to outsource the pools, it will be 20 of Melbourne’s 31 metropolitan councils that have shifted to private providers to operate some or all of their local aquatic centres.
As it stands, only a minority of Melbourne municipalities still wholly run their council-owned pools; Kingston, Yarra, Stonnington, Maribyrnong, Monash, Hume, Brimbank, Maroondah, Glen Eira and Whitehorse.
The most common private entities that run council pools in Melbourne are Belgravia Leisure, YMCA, Bluefit and Aligned Leisure.
The Whitehorse Residents Association has collected nearly 4000 signatures from locals opposed to the move. Long-term tenants Surrey Park Swimming Club and Nunawading Swim Club, which each provide the learn-to-swim programs at the Box Hill and Nunawading pools respectively, have also voiced concern over their futures.
Resident association president Tanya Tescher said that after the council’s recent controversial decision to exit the provision of in-home aged care, locals were “riled up” about the move to also outsource the running of the two Aqualink aquatic centres.
“They hear the word ‘privatisation’ and they get very upset about it,” she said.
Mont Albert resident Ruth Hargrave, 75, has been collecting signatures outside Aqualink Box Hill four times a week after her regular swims.
“They are community assets and as such they should be run by the community,” she said.
The Surrey Park and Nunawading swim clubs are concerned about the prospect of a private entity managing aquatic centres such as the Box Hill pool.Credit: Penny Stephens
“Outsourcing means it goes to a company whose main reason for doing it is profit.”
Nunawading Swim Club chief executive Simon Beqir said class provision at both Box Hill and Nunawading would also be tendered out as part of the move.
“A lot of councils manage out their facilities, but this structure at Nunawading and Surrey Park has been incredibly successful. It begs the question, ‘Why are we changing the structure that has been successful for 60 years?’,” he said.
Whitehorse Mayor Denise Massoud said it was “early days” and outsourcing was not a “fait accompli”. But she also said there were potential benefits for users under a model where a private company runs the aquatic centres because they had more resources.
The Box Hill Aqualink complex.Credit: Penny Stephens
“Certainly [pools are] an area of cost to council – it’s not a profit-making part in what we provide to the community, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t look to still provide it,” she said.
“It’s about being able to look and see can we do things differently and more efficiently. An external management model may have the potential to enhance our current level of service to the community and bring potential financial benefits too.”
Massoud said the council had a responsibility to explore more efficient use of ratepayers money, and urged nervous community members to, “wait and … see what surfaces and whether or not we can actually come back with a better offering, rather than discount it”.
Councils have long warned that the Victorian state government’s rate cap would lead to tough calls made about beloved council services and assets. They say costs are outpacing the cap, which last month was set at 2.75 per cent for the 2024-2025 financial year.
Tash Wark, deputy secretary of the Australian Services Union, which represents Victorian council workers, said the outsourcing of public pools “inevitably leads to poorer conditions for workers and increased costs for users”.
Local Labor MP Paul Hamer called out the council in May last year in state parliament for what he said was the removal of frontline services, including the outsourcing of Aqualink, aged care services and closing a council service centre in Box Hill.
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