Council & Politics
24 January, 2026
Staff shortages causing Buloke pool closures
With many travelling or working over harvest at that time, this caused a staffing issue for Buloke Shire.
RESIDENTS in the Buloke Shire were left without some of their local pools to keep cool in over the Christmas/New Year period.
As temperatures warmed, Charlton and Sea Lake pools closed a number of times over those few weeks.
With many travelling or working over harvest at that time, this caused a staffing issue for Buloke Shire.
“The availability of our casual lifeguards can vary, especially over holidays such as NYE and during harvest” Buloke Shire community development director Gaynor Atkin said.
“Many lifeguards also have other employment elsewhere.”
Ms Atkin said this wasn’t a problem just happening in Buloke.
“The closure of council owned and operated pools due to staff availability is a common problem across many rural and regional municipalities” she said.
“Buloke Shire is considered as a shire that has the largest number of council owned and operated pools per capita which often presents a challenge when it comes to staffing - despite having a great response to our lifeguard recruitment campaign this year which resulted the appointment of approx. 50 casual lifeguards this season.
“We need a minumum of two qualified lifeguards on during business hours.”
Find out more about becoming a lifeguard online at: https://www.buloke.vic.gov.au/lifeguard
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