Sport and Recreation Minister Yvette Berry's chutzpah at a public meeting to save the Big Splash water park in Macquarie was actually jaw-dropping to witness.

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Rather than accept even a shred of responsibility for the debacle, she all but took credit for starting the Save Big Splash campaign. LOL.

Addressing 18-year-old Amelia Tattam, who actually did start the campaign, Ms Berry was, let's be honest, all rainbows and unicorns about the government's role in the Big Splash dramas. Comments such as "It's so exciting to be part of this fantastic campaign" and "I'm really happy to be working with [Amelia] again on the Big Splash campaign" revealed, well, a sense of delusion.

The government has not been campaigning to save Big Splash. It also has had plenty of time to step in and take some action about Big Splash but, more than two years after the water park was last open to the public, the Canberra community is still waiting for a decision. Any decision.

To her credit, Jo Clay, the Greens MLA for Ginninderra, who was sitting on the stage listening to Ms Berry played a straight bat. It was Ms Clay who really began the fight to save Big Splash, calling for government action more than a year ago to prevent the long-shuttered water park being lost forever to Canberra.

"Do we want to live in a hotter world that has no public pools or do we actually think this is something that matters and that we need to keep these, preserve these and maybe have more of them, all around our suburbs?," she told the meeting.

Jo Clay stood up for Big Splash

Since early 2025, Ms Clay has put forward two petitions to the Assembly. She also pushed the Assembly to confirm the........

© Canberra Times