Surf Life Saving South Australia receives $13 million to strengthen water safety

In a move that further strengthens water safety at South Australian beaches, the State Government  is supporting Surf Life Saving South Australia (SLSSA) with funding of $12.9 million to significantly increase operational capacity and secure five crucial club redevelopments.

The redevelopments – scheduled over the next four years – include Normanville (2022-23), Whyalla and Lonsdale (2023-24), Robe (2024-25) and Moana (2025-26).

SLSSA Chief Executive, Damien Marangon notes “this lift in operational funding and the extension of club redevelopment funding, ensures that our dedicated volunteers are able to remain rescue ready, with world leading lifesaving facilities and equipment to support them to protect beachgoers.”

“We’ve unfortunately already seen too many drowning tragedies across our coast this summer, so having this additional funding means we can continue to support our clubs and volunteers patrolling our beaches, educate more people in our water safety programs and strive towards our vision of zero preventable deaths in SA waters.”

South Australian Premier Steven Marshall said lifesaving activity and first-aid responses in South Australia had increased by more than 77% between 2018 and 2021.

Premier Marshall advises “there are approximately 9,000 dedicated SLSSA volunteers who risk their wellbeing to protect South Australians at our beaches during summer and we know their brave actions save lives.

“Supporting SLSSA with $12.9 million in funding is how we strengthen these incredible lifesaving services well into the future.

“Boosting SLSSA’s operational funding means they have more resources at their disposal to respond to water emergencies and support their volunteers.

“We’re also funding critical club redevelopments that will ensure volunteers have modern, fit-for-purpose facilities that allow them to undertake patrols, important training and education programs.”

South Australian Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing, Corey Wingard, said today’s announcement builds on the South Australian Government’s already strong partnership with SLSSA, and follows an almost $5 million investment in the completed redevelopment of Port Elliot Surf Life Saving Club – the biggest in SA history.

Minister Wingard adds “the pivotal roles our SLSSA volunteers perform cannot be overstated enough, from patrolling our coastlines to teaching children how to swim through the hugely popular VACSWIM program.

“Not only does the initiative promote a healthy active lifestyle for children, but more than 800 instructor jobs in the aquatics industry are up for grabs through the program in a win-win for the community.”

SLSSA President, Kevin Watkins, said volunteers performed 11,355 preventative actions in 2018 compared to 20,143 last year.

“Our volunteers do an incredible job saving lives on our beaches. Last year alone, 154 lives were saved because a Surf Life Saver was on patrol and able to rescue them,” Watkins said.

“The more than 80,000 volunteer patrol hours that they performed, across the 21 Surf Life Saving Clubs in SA, provide an invaluable service to the public, to help keep them safe.”

The latest investment follows the delivery of the South Australian Government’s 2018 election commitments, including $630,000 over four years to provide $5,000 to each SLSSA club each year for upgrades to key rescue and emergency response equipment and $190,000 for drones to enhance shark surveillance capability.