A damning Auditor-General's report has exposed a startling lack of ministerial oversight over the Phillip pool saga, leaving the Woden community with a downgraded facility while raising serious questions about the government's priorities.

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The ACT Auditor-General has released a report into the way the requirement for a 50-metre pool in Phillip morphed into a manifestly inadequate 25-metre pool. Geocon acquired the rights to redevelop the existing 50-metre pool and ice-skating centre site for a lucrative housing development after that decision.

The original brief called for a 50-metre outdoor pool but that requirement has since been watered down to just a 25-metre indoor pool, which community residents say is a far cry from replacing like with like.

The 50-metre pool requirement was dropped before Geocon signed off on the purchase of the site.

It is possible the sale may not have gone ahead if the developer had to stump up the land and cash for an Olympic-sized outdoor pool. An indoor 25-metre pool would maximise the number of units that can be built on the site. The Save Phillip Pool Community group, which gathered more than 5500 signatures, notes the report makes clear the pool has been viewed by planners as an impediment to development since at least 2021.

All of this has prompted the ACT opposition to belatedly refer the matter to the ACT Integrity Commission. That, in turn, prompted the commission to reveal a probe was already in progress.

The........

© Canberra Times