Craig Thomson (Dobell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I acknowledge your contribution, Mr Deputy Speaker, to surf lifesaving not just here in the parliament by founding Parliamentary Friends of Surf Life Saving but by being a life member in Tasmania and by committing a large, very important part of your life to the Australian surf lifesaving movement, which is something that should be put on record and acknowledged.

Surf lifesaving on the Central Coast, as in many parts of the country, is part of the way of life. Everyone goes to the beach on the Central Coast. We have 15 surf lifesaving clubs there; they are part of the culture. People get married at surf lifesaving clubs, people have their christenings at surf lifesaving clubs. Surf lifesaving clubs are what the Central Coast is about, and I am sure that that is a similar experience to that of many other MPs who are able to talk here today in relation to this motion.

This Saturday, of course, is the starting of patrols again on the Central Coast and in many places around the country. We will have the annual raising of the flag ceremony at Shelly Beach at 10 o'clock this Saturday and once again we will have the red and yellow army of volunteers making sure that beaches across the Central Coast are safe for people to swim at.

Last year 895 lives were saved on the Central Coast by volunteer lifesavers, and almost 40,000 bathers were prevented from getting into difficulties by surf lifesavers on the Central Coast. We can just imagine what would be the case without them. It is important that we take the time to acknowledge not just the great work I am talking about on the Central Coast but also the great work that surf lifesavers do throughout Australia.

The President of Surf Life Saving Central Coast, Stuart Harvey, has pointed out to me, knowing that I would be speaking on this matter today, that, of the 2,400 patrolling members, they provided some 87,129 man hours in terms of volunteer time that they had put aside to make sure that our beaches were safe. I know that the motion talks about the economic costs and savings that we have because of volunteer surf lifesaving. If one could imagine having to pay for professional lifesavers for an additional 87,000 hours just on the Central Coast, one can see quite easily where the $3.6 billion of economic value we get from our surf lifesaving volunteers comes about.

The Director of Surf Life Saving Central Coast, Brett Beswick, has asked me to put on record, and make sure that people know, that they have been busy over winter as well. One of the things we often do not realise with surf lifesaving is that, while patrols may not have been going, they have been very busy this winter in making sure that plans are in place, that training is up to date and that they are going to be ready from this Saturday to provide the service that is there. While we have so many members who are active patrol members, there are also a considerable number of volunteers who assist behind the scenes to make sure that surf lifesaving is conducted in the professional manner in which it is and is able to achieve what it does by making sure that people's lives are saved.

I would also like to put on record my thanks and the thanks of the community to Chad Griffith, who was for many years the CEO of Surf Life Saving Central Coast. Chad left in the last six months, but he is not lost to surf lifesaving. He is with Westpac Rescue, which patrols my part of the world, and will continue to be very much a friend of surf lifesaving on the Central Coast. In putting this on the record and acknowledging the work he has done, I would also like to welcome Chris Parker, who was a very active surf lifesaver and part of the Nutri-grain Surf Ironman Series. He has now taken on the role of the CEO, Surf Life Saving Central Coast.

We have, as I said, 15 clubs on the Central Coast. Seven of them are in my electorate, those being the Wamberal Surf Life Saving Club, Shelly Beach Surf Life Saving Club, Toowoon Bay Surf Life Saving Club, the Entrance and the North Entrance surf life saving clubs, Soldiers Beach Surf Life Saving Club and the Lakes Surf Life Saving Club. We have many clubs there. It is interesting that when I was talking to the President of the Wamberal Surf Life Saving Club he reminded me that in fact it was a Labor Premier, Neville Wran, that made a small donation and turned the first sod to make sure that the Wamberal Surf Life Saving Club was actually built. The club then got a loan from Westpac and that was the birth of Westpac's involvement in surf lifesaving, because Westpac then had further discussions with the club and they reached an arrangement that the loan would become a sponsorship, and things have moved on from there in terms of the role that Westpac have played with surf lifesaving. But it is worth noting that it was a Labor Premier who put in the initial $5,000 to make sure that that particular club got up and going.

In recent times, only two weeks ago, I had a meeting with the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Mr Albanese, with the executive of Surf Life Saving Central Coast. We met to talk about specific issues in relation to training and resources. We did so at the Shelly Beach Surf Life Saving Club, a club completely rebuilt with federal government funding. It opened last year, and the cost of $2.5 million was entirely paid for by the federal government. Just up the road is the Soldiers Beach club, again, an old club with a grand history. It has always been very innovative, particularly in relation to rubber duckies—it was probably the first club in Australia in that regard. The club was falling down and this government again came to the party and put in another $2.5 million to see it rebuilt. So this government has had a long history with surf lifesaving on the Central Coast and has made some very significant contributions to those two clubs in having them completely rebuilt.

The effect has been something that I am sure you, Deputy Speaker, would be very aware of, and that is that we have seen an immediate increase of over 30 per cent in people joining those two clubs. If you have the proper facilities and the proper accommodation for surf lifesaving then people do want to come and join, they do want to help and they want to give up their time to do so. That is certainly what has occurred both at Shelly Beach and at Soldiers Beach.

The other eight clubs on the Central Coast are not in my electorate, they are in the electorate of Robertson. They are also in the Gosford City Council area. I raise that because Councillor McFadden, a Labor member, many years ago made sure the council put a small levy on ratepayers, and so what we have seen is that all nine surf lifesaving clubs in the Gosford City Council area have been completely rebuilt. So a Labor council initiative made sure that surf lifesaving was looked after in that particular council area. Unfortunately, in the Wyong Shire area that was not the case, but the Labor government stepped in and made sure they provided the much-needed funding to rebuild completely the Shelly Beach club and the great surf lifesaving facility we now have at Soldiers Beach.

Surf lifesaving throughout Australia plays a vital role in making sure that our beaches are safe. On the Central Coast it plays a greater role: it is part of our community; it is part of what we do every day. Everyone on the Central Coast has some connection to a surf lifesaving club—it is that important. We should acknowledge and give some thanks to the member for Gippsland for putting up this motion as it gives us the opportunity to talk about the great role that the surf lifesaving clubs do in the community. I would like to wish the best of luck to all our volunteer surf lifesavers, who from this Saturday will be out patrolling the beaches again, making sure that they are safe places for our families to swim at and for visitors to come there, and say, 'Well done, Surf Life Saving Australia.'

Honourable members: Hear, hear.

Debate adjourned.

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