Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 1 March I had the pleasure of competing in the open water swim conducted by the Edithvale Life Saving Club and the Aspendale Life Saving Club, known as the club-to-club swim.

It is the 12th time that this swim has been conducted and it draws swimmers from all over Melbourne and many from our local community. It is one of three open water swims that are conducted in my electorate each year—the other ones being the swim conducted by the Mentone Life Saving Club, in December, which I also had the pleasure of competing in; and the one that is to be held on 23 March by the Bonbeach Life Saving Club.

I congratulate the organisers of all of these open water swims. They are terrific community events and very useful fundraisers for each of the clubs. The swims are now pretty much institutions in our community. They have all been held on quite a number of occasions, and I can see that they are going to be held for many years to come.

They are useful fundraisers because they support these clubs in the fantastic work that they do on Port Phillip Bay, which is to add to the safety that is provided to all swimmers from our communities who use the wonderful beaches along the western side of my electorate as well as providing training for the nippers, because all of these clubs have very strong nippers groups, making sure that all of our children are able to swim and use the beaches safely.