When it was announced that Penrith beach – commonly known as Pondi – would be reopening, Mereline Murimwa-Rarami was overjoyed.
The aged care services manager at SydWest Multicultural Services knows intimately how important it is for residents in western Sydney to have access to swimming spots to cool down in the summer.
And she knew exactly where she would be taking her clients for their next excursion.
“I absolutely welcomed the idea and the opening, because for many people out here, especially for vulnerable communities, it can be very hard to get to a beach.
“For a family, or for the elderly, it can be impossible, it can be a long time by car. It’s much easier to access something closer.”
Her enthusiasm reflects the demand for the swimming spot, which will be reopened on Saturday after a $2.5m renovation.
The demand is rooted in a need, with western Sydney routinely experiencing temperatures significantly higher – up to 10C hotter – than the rest of the city.
The issue is compounded by the fact that many of Sydney’s most disadvantaged suburbs are in the west.
Murimwa-Rarami said her elderly clients, who come from migrant and refugee backgrounds, often have to turn off their air conditioners because they can’t keep up with energy costs.
And amid heatwaves, like the one that gripped the region in late November, delivering temperatures over 39C for two days, that can be dangerous.
“They need spots to cool down, or the heat can have a huge impact on pre-existing conditions. They can suffer from heatstrokes, it can mess with their respiratory disorders, or their heart medicine. The heat brings a lot of challenges.”
Penrith beach, nicknamed Pondi, was once a quarry, but was redeveloped from 2015 and eventually opened last year for locals.
The Minns government spent $1.7m to open the beach for residents who would normally have to drive more than an hour to any of Sydney’s ocean beaches.
It was closed in April after a wildly successful summer period in which more than 215,000 people visited; the initial opening period was extended because of the site’s popularity.
“Access to water is the birthright of every Australian, and western Sydney residents are no different,” the chief executive of the Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue, Adam Leto, said.
“And summer has a cost for the region in terms of the financial burden on families to deal with it – having to run air conditioners and look at ways to stay cool, which is a cost not a lot of other Sydneysiders have to endure.”
Leto said the region was in a “debilitating cycle” with heat, where it is “disconnecting [residents] from doing the things that they need to in their life, like getting to work or getting to the shops”.
“There’s a real social cost as well. A lot of families will choose to just stay home.”
The Labor government has promised improvements to Pondi, including accessibility and facilities at the beach. The first season at the swimming spot had only barebones services.
As part of the upgrades, beachgoers will no longer need to book parking. More than 300 spots are now available.
The beach will be open from 10am to 7pm every day, including Christmas, until the season ends on 27 April.
But for Andy Marks, the executive director at the centre for western Sydney, Pondi just isn’t enough.
He said access to swimming and recreational facilities across western Sydney was “nowhere near sufficient,” affecting health, economic and social outcomes.
“Why should somebody in western Sydney need to travel, in many cases more than an hour, and in a lot of cases at considerable cost, to access swimming spots that people in other parts of Sydney can access relatively quickly and at relatively no or low cost?
“Ten per cent of the Australian population lives in western Sydney. By no means does it get anywhere near 10% of federal or state government funding for recreation facilities or swimming recreation facilities – it would not even come close.”
Marks called it an “equity issue”, saying that the region’s lack of swimming locations exacerbates the risks newly arrived migrants face in the water.
“Migrant communities, and particularly newly arrived migrants in Australia, don’t necessarily have the water knowledge or the swimming abilities that other members of the community in Australia might have,” he said.
“So … if you limit their exposure and their ability to access swimming training, lessons, and just general experience in a patrolled safe swimming area, then you are putting them at risk.”
