Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Regional Transport) Share this | Hansard source

I commend the minister for his tender farewell to a close colleague and friend. It is with great pleasure that I inform the House of the formation of the Parliamentary Friends of Surf Life Saving, an organisation which had its first meeting this week under the stewardship of our inaugural president, the member for Bass. The member for Bass is a man who has a great reputation in the surf lifesaving movement in Australia and I understand he is a life member of Surf Life Saving Australia. As I have remarked once in the past, it is not something that you get on the back of a cornflakes packet; you have to serve. I believe the member for Bass has served with great distinction in the surf lifesaving movement.

It is a great occasion for the House to establish such a parliamentary friends organisation, when you understand that the surf lifesaving movement is such an integral part of the Australian community. There are more than 150,000 surf lifesaving volunteers across the nation and more than 300 clubs. When you talk about surf lifesaving members, it is not a male domain; it is very much a community organisation with strong representation from female athletes and female volunteers who serve on our beaches. It also has the great distinction of being a community and charitable organisation which develops young people from a very early age at, say, seven or eight years old as nippers and they continue their involvement right through to masters carnivals. It is one of those few organisations in the community which is continuing to grow—as I understand, at about two per cent per annum. It is a fantastic achievement for the surf lifesaving movement.

Surf lifesavers in Australia do a fantastic job. They keep our beaches safe and I think we sometimes forget how important that is from a tourism and economic development perspective. Can you imagine the Gold Coast without patrolled beaches? Can you imagine the beach in my own community, the 90-mile beach, without patrols? The tourist industry would suffer enormously. It is magnificent that we have these people prepared to patrol as volunteers on a daily basis throughout summer to help keep our beaches safe.

The red and yellow image of the surf lifesaving movement is an iconic Australian image and it is something that we have been able to export to other nations. Our surf lifesavers through Surf Life Saving Australia have been prepared to engage in an international program to spread the word and help educate other nations who perhaps have not had the same level of surf safety that we have been able to enjoy in Australia.

I congratulate those who have shown interest in the Parliamentary Friends of Surf Life Saving. I certainly congratulate Surf Life Saving Australia and all its state based organisations, but most of all I congratulate the men and women and the young people who contribute their time and make such an extraordinary commitment to serve our nation. I wish them well over the winter months as they prepare for another busy summer season ahead. Finally, I encourage other members to get involved in the Parliamentary Friends of Surf Life Saving under the guardianship of our president, the member for Bass.

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