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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-11-13 Daily Xml
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VACSWIM

Mrs VLAHOS (Taylor) (14:44): My question is to the Minister for Recreation and Sport. Can the minister inform the house about how the government is enabling local parents and children to learn water safety measures this summer?

The Hon. T.R. KENYON (Newland—Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for Recreation and Sport) (14:45): I thank the member for Taylor for her question. As summer approaches, I am sure all members would agree that swimming skills are vital and every parent should take steps to ensure their children are taught how to swim. With this in mind, I am happy to advise that enrolments for next year's VACSWIM program are now open. This iconic water safety program, which celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2013, provides our children with fundamental water safety, survival and rescue skills that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives.

To ensure that these skills are able to be accessed by all South Australian children, the state government provides more than $530,000 a year to make sure the VACSWIM program is affordable for every family. The VACSWIM program is conducted across the state each January for children aged five to 18, and costs (this year) $25 per child in total for seven lessons over seven days. This year, VACSWIM was conducted at nearly 140 locations across regional and metropolitan areas, with about 13,400 children taking part. VACSWIM provides children with the opportunity to develop a range of skills in water safety, confidence and competence in the water, personal survival activities, emergency procedures and basic swimming stroke improvement.

While continued water safety awareness and campaigns are aimed at helping us all avoid dangerous situations, unfortunately some accidents will still inevitably occur so we also need to ensure that as many people as possible are equipped to deal with them. That is why I am also very happy to be able to advise members that free CPR training is being offered to the first 1,000 parents, caregivers or family members who register children for the 2013 VACSWIM program starting on 3 January. This initiative is about saving lives by promoting public awareness and skills in water rescue and first aid treatment.

I would encourage all members to assist in promoting these programs to their electorates, and urge anyone wanting to take advantage of the CPR training offer to sign their kids up now. I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the great work of the VACSWIM program managers, YMCA South Australia, who, along with the Royal Life Saving Society of South Australia and Surf Life Saving South Australia, play such a vital and important role in teaching our kids how to be safe around water. For further information on the 2013 VACSWIM program visit www.vacswimsa.com.au.

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