Ken Wyatt (Hasluck, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to rise and speak on the motion that the member for Gippsland has put forward. This is an area that plays a very crucial and critical role in the educational and awareness-raising of Australians in respect to water safety. I served in the Mullaloo Surf Life Saving Club in Perth, Western Australia, and I saw every aspect of the vigilance and service to the community that used the Mullaloo Beach. The volunteers who contribute every weekend are not only those on patrol but also those who administer the functions of the club and who are part of the wider organisation in terms of Western Australia. And they are only a part of the 150,000 members and 310 affiliated surf life saving clubs around Australia.

The work they do is an incredible challenge. What people do not appreciate is that on a beach you have those who swim competently, understand the flow of water and rips and how to manage themselves in those circumstances through to those who come down under the influence of alcohol and think they can spend some time in the water, but eventually need rescuing, to those who never swim but venture out with the aid of a floating object, only to find themselves separated from the floating object and then having to be rescued.

One of the key things about the surf life saving club that I was involved with, and the many others I was affiliated with, including the Dee Why Surf Life Saving Club in Dee Why, is the passion and commitment that people have to the giving of their time to ensure the safety of our beaches and to enable the public to come and spend leisure time and swim on those particularly hot days. They also accommodate the surfers who are often in areas nearby. One of the things I found most interesting when being a patrol member was the quality of the equipment. Your equipment was certainly valued and respected, but wear and tear has its impact on all the equipment that surf life saving clubs have. When you consider the combination of fine sand and salt water, the need for cleaning and maintenance is slightly higher. So we would fundraise to replace vital equipment that was needed to protect the swimmers and the public using those beaches. This was particularly true in those times when we had a rip, and the IRB would be out in the water much more than normal, and patrols would be stretched. The capacity to fix and do running repairs was an incredible aspect of the club because it took a range of different people with different skills to be part of all those patrols.

One of the things that was important in all of this was the Nippers and the younger groups that we focused on. Through providing those opportunities a number of things are created. One is the cohesiveness within the community. There is a camaraderie among parents and also a competitiveness. It was tremendous to see the number of people, certainly within the Mullalloo Surf Life Saving Club, who on a Sunday morning or Saturday afternoon would be down there for the various functions and events. When you have a couple of hundred nippers participating then your equipment stands additional pressure in terms of wear and tear. The coalition is committed to providing an additional $10 million to assist surf life saving clubs across Australia purchase much needed equipment and to extend the beach drowning blackspot reduction program.

The other element I was fascinated with when I first joined the surf life saving club, other than getting myself fit to be a surf lifesaver, was the stalwarts of the club. I always remember a woman called Peg. I did not know her last name; I just knew her as Peg. She had been with the surf life saving club movement as a young woman. She was certainly way past retirement age. But she is a stalwart who sits at that club and inducts new members. She takes the registrations. She asks, 'Why do you want to do this? You know it is hard.' But she encourages. It is stalwarts like her and others I have met who have kept the surf life saving movement around Australia both stable but expanding. Their passion has been about getting the resources to make sure the club has the right equipment for the right conditions and that it is in good working order to rescue those when a rescue needs to happen. We never know when an event will occur on a beach that is both dangerous and life threatening. People who body surf certainly take a risk in terms of spinal injuries. The work that the surf lifesavers have done over a period of time has stabilised individuals and ensured that they received the right level of support. I remember the training I undertook, even in first aid and in the use of the equipment, which meant that I was also using the same equipment that we used on a weekend during training. We had a high use of it, but it gave me a knowledge and understanding that was absolutely vital in the rescuing of people on beaches.

Another thing is that if we were to factor in the cost of every volunteer associated with surf lifesaving it would be in excess of $3.5 billion. That is only a conservative measure of the amount of time that is given by so many in our community to ensure that their clubs are vital. The equipment also includes not only the stuff you see on the beach; it is also the radios, the more specialised equipment for the resuscitation of people. And they cost. As time goes by, what you spent three years ago in costs will have escalated because of a number of factors.

Nevertheless, governments and parliaments really need to commit to an organisation that develops not only safety and service to the public, with vigilance, but also the education and awareness aspect that go with it. When they align with other groups, at least we reach a point in which water safety becomes foremost in the minds of people. We will never counter those who are foolish in some of their activities. We only have to watch the program on television featuring Bondi Beach to see where some people take unnecessary and stupid risks that then require surf lifesavers to rescue them in very challenging contexts and situations. On that basis alone it is beholden upon us to ensure that they have the right equipment and that they have the capacity to replace equipment that is not only well used, well cared for and maintained but the basis for which rescues are often mounted.

Surf lifesaving in this nation, with its 158,000 volunteers, has had a tremendous place in the history of this nation. Certainly, under the member for Bass, the Parliamentary Friends of Surf Life Saving hope to continue the work in highlighting both the importance and the relevance of the work being undertaken by surf lifesaving. They have prevented a number of drownings over a period of time, not to mention the rescues that occur that we never hear about. Often there are rescues which do not reach media coverage. Nevertheless, there is a life or a body plucked from the ocean, brought in on a board or an IRB, resuscitated and the life extended because of unselfish people who, every weekend, are prepared to undertake patrols of the beach, aided by the equipment they have.

Certainly, the coalition will honour its commitment of $10 million that will go to surf lifesaving clubs. If we consider the number of clubs, that will mean about $5,000 per club, which will enable them to replace equipment that is in need of replacement but, again, will also support them in the work that they do.

Let me conclude by saying that often a lot of unmet need is met through donations. Surf lifesavers in their outfits stand on street corners rattling tins, hoping to raise sufficient funds to help them. It is not about the glamour or the competitive nature of the ironmen or ironwomen; it is about a community service based on that vigilance and based on that ethos of service to those who use Australian beaches.

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