Facilities
Aquatic and leisure venues operate across Australia, the great majority owned by local councils.
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A single national voice for a sector built on community.
ALFA exists because Australia's aquatic and leisure facilities are too important to speak in fragments. We bring the industry together.
Our story
From regional associations to a national alliance.
For more than three-quarters of a century, the people running Australia's public pools and leisure centres organised state by state. Those regional bodies did vital work — but a sector this large needed one front door.
ALFA was formed to be that front door. By drawing the long-standing state and territory associations under a shared banner, the industry gained a coordinated national presence: one voice in front of government, one platform for sharing knowledge, and one network where every operator could find their peers.
Membership of a regional body now comes bundled with national reach. A facility in a coastal town and a multi-centre operator in a capital city sit inside the same conversation.
Public pools and leisure centres are not just buildings. They are where communities learn to swim, stay active, and look out for one another.
What guides us
- Community first. Every position we take traces back to keeping facilities safe, accessible and open for the people who rely on them.
- Evidence over noise. We favour benchmarking, research and lived operational experience when shaping the sector's direction.
- Stronger together. A network that shares what works lifts the whole industry faster than any centre can alone.
At a glance
- National scopeMembers in every state and territory.
- Whole-of-sectorOperators, professionals and suppliers under one roof.
- Three core pillarsAdvocacy, standards and professional development.
Why it matters
The numbers behind the sector we represent.
Leisure facilities are quietly one of the largest pieces of community infrastructure in the country.
Jobs
Tens of thousands of Australians build careers in the sector — from lifeguards to centre managers.
Visits
Hundreds of millions of community visits each year make these venues part of everyday life.
Be part of it
Help shape the future of community leisure in Australia.
Membership puts your facility, your team and your suppliers inside a national network built to make the sector stronger.
See membership options