Local single-parent families will be able to access Byron Shire’s public swimming pools at a reduced cost after Byron Council addressed a longstanding inequity in its pricing structure for the facilities.
In a move that will take effect from 25 October 2025, Council has introduced discounted single-entry and season passes for the many local families with a sole parent, guardian, or carer.
A single-parent family with one adult and two children will now pay $14 for a single entry to the pool with any additional children costing an extra $4.
The same family can purchase a season ticket for $377, compared to $478 for a traditional four-person family. Single-parent families who are entitled to a concession will have their entry fees discounted further.
Reducing inequality
The changes end a longstanding inequity which saw a single-parent household consisting of one adult and one child paying $496 to access the pool for a season, compared to $478 for a family of four.
‘Single-parent households face the highest poverty rates in Australia,’ local single parent Kate Walsh told last week’s Council meeting.
‘Caregiving costs make a day out disproportionately expensive for single-parent families.
‘While concession costs do exist, the income cutoff is extremely low, meaning that many single-parent families struggling with cost-of-living pressures do not qualify and are therefore forced into the higher priced adult-plus-child combination.’
Byron Mayor Sarah Ndiaye, who moved the motion to introduce the reduced fees, said there were many people in the community who ‘don’t fit the traditional atomic family model’.
‘And we know that single-parent families are often struggling when it comes to financing.’
‘Someone in [Council] staff may have said something around it costing [the Council] money, but I think what happens is that single parents just wouldn’t have bought those passes in the past because it was too expensive. This will encourage more fitness, more engagement, more fun for our single-parent families.’
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