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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-02-09 Daily Xml
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The Oaks Swim Centre

Ms WORTLEY (Torrens) (15:44): I have spoken in this place on numerous occasions about the importance of access to swimming pools for members of our community in particular, while highlighting the impact of the closure by the former Liberal government of the Strathmont swimming pool and its effect on more than 1,500 children and adults in the nearby area.

Today, I am standing here with a smile on my face because of a commitment made by the Malinauskas Labor government. The Malinauskas Labor government committed $150,000 to the refurbishment of the Royal Society for the Blind, See Differently, swimming pool in Gilles Plains in my electorate of Torrens.

After a number of meetings, I was able to get both the amazing CEO of Royal Life Saving South Australia, Jayne Minear, and the CEO of RSB, See Differently, Damian Papps, together to work out a way forward with a swimming pool that had been closed in our area for some time—the RSB swimming pool. It was closed around the time that COVID appeared in our state and for three years that swimming pool sat empty.

With a $150,000 commitment from the government, we managed to refurbish that pool and, on 9 January this year, that swimming pool was reopened to the community. I am thrilled to say that the expectation of swimming lessons and access to the pool for our community has been amazing.

I think it is really important in particular to highlight some of the uses of that pool. Members of our community now have access to water therapy and swimming lessons developed specifically for communities most at risk of drowning. The government also contributed a further $10,000 towards an autism school holiday program.

The pool operations focus on the Inclusive Swim for the autism and autistic community, multicultural swimming lessons and water-safety education, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander water safety and swimming lessons, and also an active ageing program.

In addition to that, Royal Life Saving SA will be partnering with See Differently to deliver water therapy to Australian Defence Force veterans as part of the OPK9 program. Royal Life Saving CEO, Jayne Minear said:

We want everyone in South Australia to be able to enjoy the water safely. This is an opportunity to work with those in our community who are most at risk of drowning, to give them the skills they need to stay safe.

She went on to say that she is very grateful for the support that the government has offered for these programs.

We know that the new Oaks Swim Centre is the culmination of people who care coming together and delivering for our community. The drowning statistics are devastating, so too are the near drownings, the non-fatal, with often lifelong consequences for the survivor and their family. We know that there is a higher incidence of drowning of children within the autism and autistic community, as well as multicultural communities. So Royal Life Saving SA's water safety and therapy programs at the new Oaks Swim Centre truly is life saving.

I know that places are almost full, that it will not be long before we will be calling out for more. Of course, we look forward to the new aquatic centre that will be built, and hopefully more places will open up there.

I will continue to advocate in the north-east for an even larger public swimming pool, but for now, it is absolutely a lifesaver for people in the electorate of Torrens and nearby areas. I want to acknowledge today that an election commitment by our government has well and truly put that area and these people into a much better place. Parents of children are feeling much calmer about the fact that they are now able to access these important swimming and therapy lessons.

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