Arabic version: مخاطر إغلاق المسابح النائية في الإقليم الشمالي

According to ABC News, Royal Lifesaving NT is urging governments to treat remote Northern Territory swimming pools as essential community infrastructure, warning that more facilities could close without urgent, coordinated long-term funding.

A new Royal Lifesaving Australia report identified 19 remote pools across the Northern Territory. Nine have infrastructure more than 30 years old and five have closed. The report cited fragmented and limited funding, ageing assets and workforce shortages as contributing factors.

Mutitjulu, an Anangu community at the base of Uluru, is among the communities with a functioning pool. The facility was built in 2013 using money paid to traditional owners from Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, and operational costs are funded in collaboration with the Central Land Council.

Anangu elder and traditional owner Rita Jingo said the pool gives children a place to swim. The community also uses a “yes school, yes pool” policy, under which children who attend school receive a wristband allowing them to use the facility.

Royal Lifesaving NT executive director Floss Roberts said pools support swimming lessons, community gatherings and local training. She said the Northern Territory has Australia’s highest drowning rate per capita, with people three times more likely to drown than in other states and territories. Royal Lifesaving NT wants local, territory and federal governments to work together on a solution.