Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

We need to stop the drownings before they happen, and right now we're losing the fight. Drownings are up by 108 per cent in the zero to four age group. This is just not good enough. We fought so hard to get indoor pools open during lockdown, when the New South Wales government was going to keep them closed until 1 December. From swim schools to local families across New South Wales, we made our voices heard. This issue is so important. Now, our swim schools are open because of the fight our community took to the government. Local swim schools like Dive In Swimming Academy and Nepean Aquatic Centre have welcomed local kids back through their doors. It was a delight to see them get a head start on their swimming lessons that they desperately needed, having been interrupted over two years.

The fight is not over. As we approach summer, families in Western Sydney are going to be heading to the beaches we've been locked out of and also to the rivers, to the lakes and to the pools. Our kids have missed out on too much time in the water. I'm calling on the Commonwealth and the locked-down states to support an intensive back-to-swim program, because our Aussie kids need it.

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