With any luck the grant gods will be shining on Goulburn Mulwaree Council’s grant bid for the aquatic centre’s redevelopment.
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The State Government’s Sports Infrastructure Grants will be keenly contested among councils and sporting bodies and an application of the highest quality will be essential.
Tuesday’s decision, commissioning architects to design concept plans for the total pool upgrade is a prudent step towards this. The council has learnt the hard way that under-prepared grant applications for the pool are doomed to fail.
The time is ripe to dip into numerous funding opportunities from both State and Federal governments. Supplementing this is the State’s highly attractive low-interest loan scheme, under which the council will apply for $4.25 million, or less if grants materialise, for the aquatic centre improvements.
But more than this, Goulburn must plan now for a hydrotherapy pool. Despite the community donating generously to build the one at Bourke Street Health Service, there is no surety over its continuation. The Saint John of God Sisters, which own Bourke Street, will likely sell the complex once its tenant, the Southern NSW Local Health District, moves all its services to the redeveloped Goulburn Base Hospital.
The hydrotherapy pool will go with it, which is a tragedy for Goulburn and district people who derive so much benefit.
But if the council can step into the fray in a timely manner, this much needed facility will continue as part of a much improved complex.
A country cop to the end
Despite his meteoric rise to Deputy Commissioner, Gary Worboys has never lost sight of the real meaning of policing.
He was born in the city, grew up in Blacktown but upon joining the Police Force in 1983, soon embraced the ethos of country policing. That is, that community relations and dialogue are uppermost if officers in rural and regional communities are to make a real difference. In fact it should be a universally applied value.
Police who take a high-handed approach and put the fear of God into people for no good reason, do nothing for their cause. In Goulburn we have some great examples of community policing. Senior Constable Barbara Beard’s tremendous youth work is just one example. Mr Worboys is a breath of fresh air in this role for the example he sets.
