SONJA Dyke-Clark didn’t hesitate when asked by the Public Service Association if she’d have a petition supporting local Sport and Recreation centres posted in her store.
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Prior to starting work at Wangi Hardware, which she now owns and operates, Ms Dyke-Clark had worked in the public service for 15 years, including at the Department of Sport and Recreation.
So she has first-hand knowledge of the benefits the Sport and Recreation centres, including at Myuna Bay and Point Wolstoncroft, provide for the community.
So she is concerned by reports the state government is considering a plan to privatise aspects of the centres.
“These centres aren’t just for children, they’re for adults, disabled groups, indigenous people – all sorts of people,” Ms Dyke-Clark said.
The worry is that privatising the centres would lead to cost increases for users, and Ms Dyke-Clark said that simply was not on.
“That would put these centres and their outstanding facilities out of the league of people on pensions and lower incomes,” she said.
And it seems lots of locals agree.
The PSA petition calls on the government to prevent “any privatisation, outsourcing or leasing of Sport and Recreation centres immediately”.
The petition was posted in the store last week, and within days five pages of signatures had been collected.
“The facilities in these Sport and Rec centres are outstanding,” she said.
The facilities in these Sport and Rec centres are outstanding,
- - Sonja Dyke-Clark
They include swimming pools, libraries, archery ranges, flying foxes, climbing apparatus, kayaks and canoes.
At a time when childhood obesity and sedentary lifestyles were worrying health professionals in Australia, now was not the time to be making health and fitness pursuits more difficult for families to access, she said.
“My way of thinking is that these facilities are all assets of the community, so there really should be a referendum if they are to be privatised.”
NSW P&C Federation president Susie Boyd said the centres had introduced thousands of students to outdoor activities such as bushwalking, rock climbing and canoeing for almost 70 years.
“However, private operators wanting to make a profit would raise costs to parents, so the most disadvantaged schools and students would miss out,” Ms Boyd said.
