IN SWIMMING parlance, the Bass Coast Shire Council has changed stroke mid-race in the quest to get two aquatic centres built in the shire, one where the old pool is passed its ‘use by’ date in Wonthaggi and the other where great expectations exist for a public pool, on Phillip Island.
They say they haven’t dropped their ‘two-pool strategy’ but after a unanimous vote was taken at last Wednesday’s council meeting, they’ve backed a staged approach to get an aquatic centre built in Wonthaggi first, and a staged approach to get a new sports centre started in Cowes, before relaunching the campaign for a Phillip Island Aquatic Centre.
The new approach, which also reluctantly garnered the support of Phillip Island Councillor Ron Bauer, is being put out for 16 days of public comment on the shire’s Engage Bass Coast website, from October 16 to November 6, 2025.
In moving the motion to change tack, and go for a staged approach to building Wonthaggi’s pool complex first and then going after facilities for Phillip Island next, Cr Meg Edwards called the plan exciting.
“This is exciting because aquatic facilities in our region are absolutely critical, and different to our neighbouring shires, this is the only public swimming pool available in Bass Coast. And it’s the same swimming pool that, as a primary school kid, we came across to and learnt to swim in myself,” said Cr Edwards.
“And I don't think it's had any work done since then,” she said.
“It’s at risk of having serious faults at the moment, and we are at risk of not having a pool in the region, which would be absolutely catastrophic for a council that is surrounded by so much coastline, not to have a pool for our children to learn to swim, or people to recover in or for enjoyment.”
Cr Edwards said Wonthaggi didn’t need a ‘Taj Mahal’ for swimming but something for the likes of the local swim clubs and the underwater hockey group which “punched above its weight” in state and national competitions.
Cr Tim O’Brien acknowledged the $10 million worth of problems with the old Wonthaggi pool and the fact that it needed to be rebuilt, but with Phillip Island’s sporting needs to follow.
“It's part of a two-pool strategy and just a comment to Philip Islanders only, there’s a focus on the sporting precinct first, as something that we could get over the line, and then to draw the aquatic centre for Phillip Island into that once we had a critical mass of use of the sporting precinct,” said Cr O’Brien.
Cr Tessari said he was on council in 2016 when a report was tabled that the old Wonthaggi pool would fail within 10 years, that was nine years ago, he said.
But he said the two-pool strategy had failed all efforts over the past decade and it would be the definition of stupidity to keep doing the same thing.
“The strategy is very, very clear now that we get the Wonthaggi pool first, get the sporting precinct up there (Hilton Chadwick Reserve) next, and then the (Phillip Island) pool follows. We've already been told that it's a much smarter strategy to go after one pool at a time,” said Cr Tessari.
Cr Ron Bauer continued calling for an aquatic centre for Phillip Island but acknowledged the Wonthaggi pool was in “very urgent need of attention”.
The mayor Cr Rochelle Halstead, aware she was speaking to a Phillip Island audience at Berninneit in Cowes, said she was conscious of the long-running community-driven campaign to get an aquatic centre for Phillip Island.
“I feel for Phillip Island, I really do. I know they've been advocating for a long time, but it is a difficult situation, with funding very limited at both state and federal levels, and we can't deliver infrastructure or assets without the support of either the state or federal government,” said Cr Halstead.
“As Cr Tessari said, we've been advocating very hard at both levels for a two pool-strategy, and we've fallen flat. So, I congratulate councillors for making this tough decision because we know how strongly our communities feel about this. So I just wanted to thank councillors around the table. I hope that people recognise it wasn't an easy decision, and we haven't taken Philip Island off future plans, and if a sooner opportunity presents, we'll be all over it,” she said.
Read all the details about the pool strategy and provide your feedback online HERE
