Developer Geocon has, inevitably, been painted as the villain in the Phillip pool and ice rink fiasco, but the real culprits are the owner who in recent years used every excuse under the sun not to maintain it properly and the government which never held him to account.
Why didn't the ACT government revoke the lease? Put in managers who do a brilliant job at places such as the Dickson swimming pool? The owner of the Phillip pool, Dr Wayne Houghton, failed last summer and this summer to get it open to the public. And the government appeared to do nothing but send off letters that were studiously ignored.
