“That alone is a reason to keep the doors open.”
For Addo-Carr, the centre was a safe space that made him feel like he belonged. He trained there. It was the site of his first job. “Everyone is so devastated,” Addo-Carr said. “It’s a place where all Indigenous people go to in the area where I grew up.
‘They do so much community stuff there and they have taken that away from us. You can’t do that.’
Josh Addo-Carr
“They are taking away something we care about as a community. It’s a place where we get together, the whole community goes there to catch up. They are taking away something that gives us opportunities to be better.”
The closure has prompted an outcry from the community. There was a rally on Tuesday and Addo-Carr continued the campaign to save the facility when he posed for the Herald outside it on Thursday. “We need to keep these places open so that kids have those pathways to be better. It’s a place that gives kids opportunities.”
The NCIE, which opened in 2006, has a pool, gymnasium and a community hall. Its staff of almost 50, mainly Indigenous, workers are about to become unemployed. It is a second home for many Indigenous and non-Indigenous locals.
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Former Sydney mayor Lucy Turnbull said it was “heartbreaking” to see the Centre’s original vision come undone and urged all three levels of government to work on a sustainable model for the Centre alongside landowners and community.
“The role it serves should continue, as much as is possible, for the local community and also more widely to fulfil its original national objectives,” she said.
A statement from the NSW Aboriginal Land Council said a failure to agree on interim funding would result in the closure of the pool and the aquatic centre at NCIE, but tenants such as Tribal Warrior would be able to operate under existing terms.
“NSWALC is looking forward to working with these organisations to ensure these services can continue to access the site,” it said. The land council has been urging government to cover the centre’s losses, estimated at about $2 million a year, until a suitable third party could step in to manage it.
The council would also work with the community to set up an advisory group and hold talks about the future use of the site, the statement said.
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