In too deep: when Gladys’ and John’s rorts go wrong

Thanks to Coalition pork barrelling before the 2019 federal and NSW elections, the community of Batemans Bay is losing its 50-metre pool, which is being downgraded to a 25-metre indoor pool, local assets are being sold off, and ratepayers will paying through the nose for years to come for a sub-par facility. All because a project that didn’t have a solid business case was pork-barrelled, in defiance of grant conditions, to the tune of $51 million.

For decades the Batemans Bay community had wanted a performance space and an indoor heated 50-metre pool to complement its outdoor 50-metre pool. In 2016, when Eurobodalla Shire Council bought (with no community consultation) a site that used to house a bowling club next door to the existing…