Access Canberra, aka the Territory Planning Authority, had all the chance in the world to save Big Splash as a water park for the national capital.
It chose not to. For whatever reason. Perhaps, deep down, it really does want the developer (cough, sorry, lessee) to put houses, units, a hotel, whatever on the site in Macquarie.
Yes, yes, the Assembly has ruled out rezoning the land for residential use. Let's see how long that lasts when the site becomes even more derelict; even more of an eyesore. When the new fence continues to get kicked down and the vandals keep getting in and running amok.
We can only wait for the next chapter of this ridiculous tale to unfold - when an "unlicensed family restaurant" supposedly will open on the Big Splash site on November 1 in a last-ditch attempt by the owner to comply with the lease. (Cue a food truck parked on-site or a donga craned in, perhaps? Mmmmm, so appealing.)
It will be symbolic of everything about the Big Splash saga - the lessee will do the very bare minimum to keep hold of the land and will keep taking Canberrans for fools. And Access Canberra, aka the Territory Planning Authority, will keep enabling him.
And, let's get real, the Labor government and the Liberal opposition have sat and watched the whole thing unfold with barely a peep. The only party that has truly and genuinely tried to save Big Splash is the ACT Greens.
It beggars belief why Access Canberra has refused to punish the Big Splash owner when it has breached the lease so very blatantly over a number of years. How many chances does someone get? The site hasn't opened as an aquatic park since the 2023-24 summer. Where's the confusion?
Access Canberra has instead chosen to take the Big Splash owner at its word - when time and again the owner has broken promises and been less than upfront. Not only with the public and ministers and bureaucrats but also with his own financial backers.
Translink Management Group, headed by Songnan (Morris) Huang, bought the Big Splash lease in 2021.
What followed was legal action, settled out of court, in 2021 when Translink's private lenders claimed they had been told that the purchase price of the Big Splash lease was $17.5 million when it was actually $7.5 million. Needless to say, the lenders wanted to know what had happened to the other missing $10 million and sought a freezing of Translink's assets.
Even against this background, Access Canberra continues to give the Big Splash owner chance after chance. Why? To play the long game? To grind down the Big Splash venue even more until no one in their right mind will reopen an aquatics facility there? When whacking up hundreds of units on the site becomes much easier? And so much more profitable?
To update everyone, the Big Splash owner and his private lenders haven't been able to sell the site. (And even though the site was "repossessed by the lenders in January, make no mistake that Huang is still very much involved.)
The lack of buyer interest in the Big Splash site probably comes as no surprise as the ACT government confirmed multiple times that any new owner would also need to have the 50-metre swimming pool back up and running for the public to use from November 1. Pretty hard to achieve when the site went up for sale in June and expressions of interest closed in July.
Now, where did this November 1 deadline come from?
Access Canberra had the choice to terminate the Big Splash lease after the owner not only kept the waterpark shut for three years but abandoned it, letting the vandals do what they like with it.
But, no, in April this year, Access Canberra gave the Big Splash owner another chance.
"Following engagement with the operators and multiple site inspections conducted in April, Access Canberra has considered the substantive actions taken by the owners, including site clean-up and repair of the pool infrastructure to re-open the site as an aquatic facility by 1 November 2026. Progress on the site to date supports this intention," Access Canberra said at the time.
"Importantly for the community, the operators have expressed their intention to continue operating the site as an aquatic facility, retaining the existing 50-metre pool and associated food amenities.
"Inspectors will remain actively engaged over the coming months and intend to conduct regular site visits to ensure this progress continues."
Access Canberra accepted that the owner was going to demolish the much-loved water slides, but was content with that because the 50-metre swimming pool would be opened for summer. By November 1.
So, yes, some water was pumped out of the pools. And a fence was put up, supposedly to secure the site. The pool infrastructure was not fixed. The amenities still looked like a bomb had hit them, vandals smashing them up with absolute abandon. Even thieves got in and stole copper from the walls of the buildings.
Then what? Nothing. There has since April been zero effort to clean up of the site. Rainwater collected in the pools again. The grounds remained trashed and derelict. Vandals have now kicked in sections of the new fence. As recently as September 5, a suspicious fire was set alight within the grounds.
Even Blind Freddy could see the 50-metre pool, still empty, still graffiti-covered, was not going to re-open to the public by November 1.
Step in Chris Steel, not only the Planning Minister but the new Sport and Recreation Minister.
His answer to all this? Not terminating the lease. Of course not. A report! That will take a year to be delivered!
"Big Splash is a private owned and operated business. However, given the community interest in the site the government will commission the options report to provide further information to potential buyers, the government and the current leaseholder on how to best support the reopening of the site as an aquatic facility," Mr Steel said.
"This analysis will deliver a detailed understanding of the practical costs of delivering various facilities, including slides, re-opening pools and other amenities, as well as land valuation, and provide analysis of a viable models of commercial aquatic facility operations on the site.
"Importantly, this report will provide a way for the community to have their voice heard in the future plans for Big Splash."
Because, as we know, the community has been absolutely silent on what they want for Big Splash. Not.
A community group was set up, literally called Save Big Splash. There have been protests. There has been a public meeting. There has been a petition signed by 7500 people, calling for the Big Splash lease to be terminated, the site restored to public control and a commitment given for the venue to remain an aquatics facility with a 50-metre outdoor pool, open lawns and water slides.
Greens leader Jo Clay said it best:
"The community doesn't need another glossy brochure.
"The government should know by now what the community wants. The community wants a pool and a water park and a recreational facility. It's really, really clear."
Then, this week, came the another twist in the farce.
The lease allows the Macquarie site to be used for "one of the following purposes namely an aquatic and indoor sports and recreation centre and an unlicensed family restaurant".
So the Big Splash owner finally dropped any pretence of opening the swimming pool for this summer. Instead, it is going to put in an unlicensed family restaurant! In six weeks! And Access Canberra is on board with this.
"If the family restaurant is operating by 1 November 2026, the site will be considered compliant with the purpose clause as set out within the Crown lease," Access Canberra said, on Wednesday.
Okay, fair enough. And what if this so-called family restaurant turns out to be a food truck wheeled on to the site or a donga craned in to comply with the lease? Dishing out chiko rolls or whatever amongst the debris and decay of Big Splash? What then? We all happy with that?
The owner will be happy. He's not opening a pool but he's complying with the lease by putting in a cheap food outlet. Everyone else has to wait a year for the government's report to be produced. That means more time for the owner to continue his scramble overseas for funds to develop the site, one way or another.
It really, really shouldn't be this complicated.
Even the smallest country town seems to have a swimming pool successfully run by the local council.
For people saying governments shouldn't be involved in running pools, well, they already are - Civic, Tuggeranong, Erindale, Dickson, Manuka, Stromlo and Gungahlin are all publicly owned pools.
And for anyone disputing that Big Splash can't be an affordable business? Well, it was, for three decades, under the former owners the Watkins family who were actually committed to the idea of providing aquatic facilities to Canberrans.
The Watkins got a kick out of seeing kids, families, teenagers enjoying themselves in the water park. They weren't trying to develop the site and squeeze more dollars out of the land. Even as recently as February this year, the Watkins family offered to go in for free to inspect the Big Splash site and give their advice on how to get it reopened. That offer was ignored by the government.
So, as Canberra faces another hot summer, we are again going to miss the cool, the shade, the innocent fun that Big Splash provided. But at least we might be able to buy some greasy fast food.
