Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 18 October I attended the Marine Rescue Lake Macquarie Open Day on the shores of Lake Macquarie. Marine Rescue Lake Macquarie do a fine job in the area. They keep both the lake and the surrounding areas of sea safe. Marine Rescue Lake Macquarie, like all marine rescue services, are staffed by volunteers. They work tirelessly to provide education and training to their volunteers, and at the same time they protect those people that use the waterways in the area.

Lake Macquarie is the largest saltwater lake in the Southern Hemisphere, and people come from around Australia to enjoy the fishing, the sailing and the other water recreation activities. Sometimes they do not take the care that they need to take when entering the water. So thank you very much to Marine Rescue Lake Macquarie for keeping the people that are using our lake and ocean safe, but I would like to send a message to those people that are using our waterways: make sure that you are properly prepared and undertake safe behaviour whilst you are on those waterways, and do not make the job of marine rescue harder than it needs to be.