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Mandatory pool fences are a dumb idea

An email to 2UE’s Ron Wilson and Angela Bishop who are filling-in for George Moore and Paul B. Kidd

Hi Ron and Angela,

I’ve been enjoying having you both fill in for George and Paul, you work very well together, but I’m afraid that I do have a bone to pick with you.

You had a caller earlier who doesn’t have a fence around her pool and justifies this by keeping her backyard locked and not permitting entry without supervision. One of you wondered what would happen if a child climbed over the back fence and was then able to get to the pool.

Well I’m sorry, but if they can climb the back fence, then they would be able to climb the pool fence anyway, and kids who are too small to climb a fence are usually small enough to fit through the bars of a pool fence…I agree with the lady caller that a pool fence is no substitute for supervision and properly securing your yard. The rules requiring pool fences give people a false sense of security.

Thanks for filling in anyway, and please come back again some time in the future.

Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra