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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-06-04 Daily Xml
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Lifesaving World Championships

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (15:05): My question is again to the Minister for Recreation and Sport. Can the minister advise the house of the amount of other debt, not related to storm damage, incurred by the Lifesaving World Championships and for what this debt was incurred?

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (15:06): I thank the member for the question. Again, I refer her back to my first answer because she may not have listened to it, but I will add a few more specifics just to be clear because, clearly, the Leader of the Opposition didn't listen either.

The event was run by the South Australian Tourism Commission, in association with Surf Life Saving SA. It wasn't run through the Office for Recreation, Sport and Racing, so I wasn't privy to that detail. What we do know is that it was one of the best events that the international world lifesaving association had seen, and they were very, very complimentary, even with the extremely tough weather they had to deal with. I know you were down there as well—I saw you a number of times—and it was heartbreaking to see the infrastructure washed away through that storm. The volunteers rallied and pulled it all together to get things back up and running. To pull off the event was truly outstanding, so I commend everyone for doing that.

But the fallout was that, to cover the costs of what happened and the losses that were made, there was a situation where Surf Life Saving SA was at risk of not being able to deliver on those other programs I outlined before: Little Lifesavers, Surf Babies, CALD community programs and education programs helping people learn to swim, which are, as we know, a vitally important range of programs right across our state. When they were in danger of losing those programs and not being able to deliver on those programs, it was thought that this would be a good investment of money to make sure we keep delivering them.

Surf Life Saving SA do an amazing job. There are 22 surf lifesaving clubs along our beaches delivering these programs throughout the summer. They are volunteers keeping South Australians safe and putting back into our communities. I can't thank our volunteers enough. It was Volunteer Week a fortnight ago and I mentioned the SES, CFS, MFS and SAPOL. Whilst they are paid entities, they do go over and above.

A number of people in Surf Life Saving SA put hours and hours in on our beaches trying to keep people as safe as possible and also put back into communities, like the CALD groups. The response we have had from those groups for their appreciation of these programs and the results they deliver has been truly outstanding. I think it's vitally important to help ensure that Surf Life Saving SA keeps delivering those programs.

In the last budget, we announced $5,000 for each of those surf lifesaving clubs to help them with equipment and resources to make sure they are fully resourced to deliver these programs. We make no apologies for supporting our surf lifesaving clubs in South Australia.

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