Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to rise to speak on the motion by the honourable member for Kingsford Smith. I acknowledge the work he does in this place and outside as well, particularly with the surf lifesaving club. I also acknowledge the member for Mackellar and the work that he does with his surf club on the northern beaches. I am sure there is some competition between north and south.

I am one of the lucky ones. Growing up on the mid-north coast I had the benefit of the beautiful beaches of Crescent Head, South West Rocks and Hat Head, as well as swimming in the mighty Macleay. I am also lucky that I don't recall learning how to swim. It just seemed that I always knew. Maybe that was the benefit of being the youngest of five children. But I know that it was a consequence of my mother and father knowing how important it was to get their children into the pool and learning how to swim as early as possible, whether that was because of what they saw––my father was a country GP and my mother a nurse. I certainly saw in my time as a police officer the tragic consequences of failing to do that.

We've heard today that last year alone 248 people drowned in Australian waterways. Eighty per cent of those were males. One always thinks about the beach being the most dangerous, but the top three locations were in fact a river or creek at 21 per cent; 20 per cent in the harbour; and 18 per cent at the beach. One-quarter were recreational swimmers. Twenty per cent were from boating. Despite this being an eight per cent decrease from 2018-19 and a 12 per cent decrease over the last decade of the national average, it is still far too high. I have to say that many of those deaths were avoidable.

Today I would like to concentrate on what I hope we can reduce to zero, and that is young children, zero to four years of age, dying in backyard pools. From July 2002 to June 2017, 87 per cent of drownings for children zero to four happened in backyard pools. A study over that period found that the most common causes of distractions were indoor household duties, like doing the washing up; outdoor duties; electronic distractions—looking at your phone, being on your computer, looking at your iPad and not looking at the kids; and child care—looking after another sibling and thinking that the little one is going to be okay just sitting on the step, or looking after somebody else's kids. I say to parents, mums, dads, child-care givers and grandparents: you've got to watch your kids. I am guilty of it; I have answered the phone when my kids have been in the pool. We cannot do it.

Most importantly, we need to make sure that we check the locks on our gates regularly. You might think, 'My child is not in the pool and it is okay to go off and doing something,' but make sure that your gate is locked properly and make sure that there are no other avenues for the kids to, for example, put a block there and get over the fence. It is so important to do that. This is where our most vulnerable people, our children, our little ones, are dying. So please make an effort over this summer to do that.

I would like to thank all the surf lifesavers. They are volunteer workers and they do a fantastic job. I'm proud to be the patron for both the South West Rocks Surf Lifesaving Club and the Kempsey Swimming Club, and I thank them for having me as one of their patrons. I'd also like to thank surfers. I know there's a bit of competition between clubbies and surfers but, invariably, when the flags come down, the surfers are still there and they do such a fantastic job. They make many, many life-saving saves, and I would like to give a shout out to them and thank them for their efforts.

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