Penrith Beach opens for summer amid severe heatwave
A popular swimming spot in Western Sydney has officially opened for the season as a severe heatwave continues to impact the city.
With temperatures expected to soar above 39 degrees in parts of Sydney, Penrith Beach, or ‘Pondi’ as it is commonly known, opened on Saturday morning for its third consecutive year.
The beach also extended its operating hours from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for the peak of the 2025-26 summer season.
Surf Life Saving NSW’s eight-week junior lifesaving program will also teach local children aged 5-12 about swimming and water safety on Saturdays.
Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully said Penrith Beach had “opened with a bang, with more on offer than before”.
“Opening Penrith Beach early, extending hours and offering water safety programs is exactly what justice looks like for a community struggling with some of the hottest temperatures on the planet,” he said.
“We have an incredible number of free programs this season, including youth lifesaving workshops, community water safety days and professional skin checks, to help people stay safe and healthy while enjoying the water.”
Acting Western Sydney Minister Courtney Houssos said the summer program was about ensuring families in the west had the same opportunities and access to swimming spots as the rest of Sydney.
“Penrith won the title of world’s hottest place in 2020, but the former Liberal National government kept this local swimming hole locked down for more than a decade,” he said.
Member for Penrith Karen McKeown added that Penrith had “had to fight for its fair share for too long”.
“I am proud to be part of a government that supports our community and provides the things we need,” he said.
“Seeing families enjoy the atmosphere at community day, queuing for free ice cream and coffee and watching children play in the sand shows the value of our investment in reopening Penrith Beach.”
The opening marks almost the second anniversary of the drowning at Penrith Beach, just a week after the swimming area opened to the public in December 2023.
The day after Christmas, two people had trouble in the water, a child was safely pulled out of the water, and a search was launched after a man did not surface.
The man’s body was found a few hours later.
Meanwhile, heatwave warnings have been issued for parts of NSW, Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia, including an extreme warning for the Kimberley, Pilbara and the Northern Interior.
There is a serious warning for the Hunter, Metropolitan, Illawarra, South Coast, Central Tablelands and Southern Tablelands in NSW.
