Today, in a joint release, the Royal Life Saving National Drowning Report 2021 and Surf Life Saving National Coastal Safety Report 2021 were released. There were 294 drowning deaths in the past 12 months across Australia’s coastline, inland waterways and pools, which is 20% higher than last year (245).

Concerningly there was 75 drownings in inland waterways which is a 53% increase, and 66 drowning at beach, which is a 50% increase.

With the support of the Morrison Government, Royal Life Saving works with the Australian Water Safety Council, State and Territory organisations, and local communities to prevent drowning across the country and increase water safety awareness. Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison said the Government was determined to support organisations like Royal Life Saving to raise water safety awareness and to make our pools, waterways and beaches safer. 

While further research is needed, the findings from RLSSA show that the impacts of COVID on increases in drowning deaths is largely attributable to:

1. Increased drowning risk among Australians visiting unfamiliar locations. COVID has seen more people seeking out remote places to escape crowds, swimming outside of patrolled hours, taking more day trips to isolated beaches, rivers or lakes and holidaying domestically at unfamiliar locations.
2. Increased drowning risk around the home. Complacency can often seep in when people are exhausted from working from home, home schooling, and restricted time in confined spaces, sometimes resulting in distractions or unsupervised children around water.
3. Australians lack the swimming skills necessary to enjoy the water safely. COVID has seen children missing out on swimming lessons, adults and teenagers with reduced pool access who are no longer swim fit and/or lack confidence in the water leading to increased drowning incidents in open waterways. 

key facts include:

• Rescue-related incidents on our coast were up 150% from average, with rip currents at unpatrolled locations being prominent factors within these incidents
• There were 25 drowning deaths among children aged 0-4 years, an 108% increase on last year and a 9% increase on the 10-year average.
• People aged 25-34 years accounted for 17% of all drowning deaths, the most of any age group.
• 136 drowning deaths occurred on coastal waters, an 13% increase on last year and the 10-year average (n=120).
• 75 drowning deaths occurred in rivers and creeks; this is a 53% increase on last year.

Click on the link below to read the National Drowning report.

Click here to download the National Drowning Report 2021
Click here to download the Media Release

Royal Life Saving Australia and Surf Life Saving Australia would like to invite you to a webinar following the release of the 2021 National Drowning Report and National Coastal Safety Report. Join us on Thursday 9 September 2021 to reflect and discuss drowning statistics and key drowning trends from the last 12 months.
 
We will hear from a range of speakers covering research, policy and practice, who are all working to reduce drowning across Australia.

Webinar Details:

Thursday 9 September, 11am-12pm EST

Description:

Royal Life Saving is pleased to facilitate its third Aquatic Industry webinar for 2021-22 and will be joined by practitioners, advocates and experts in the field including:

• Justin Scarr, CEO, Royal Life Saving Society – Australia
• Adam Weir, CEO, Surf Life Saving Australia
• Alison Mahony, Author of the Royal Life Saving National Drowning Report
• Surf Life Saving Research team, authors of the National Coastal Safety Report
• Peter Hopkins, Marine and Safety Tasmania (MAST)
• Omar Mahmoud & Feroz Sattar, Founders of Swim Brothers, NSW
• Floss Roberts, Royal Life Saving – Northern Territory

Facilitator:

The Webinar is facilitated by Royal Life Saving Society – Australia

Webinar Registration:

Registration for this event is essential, please register at the below link.
  https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_hPpbIZULSgact2FYC2THUQ

NOTICE OF AGM

We would like to invite members to the Annual General Meeting (AGM) which will be held on Thursday 23 September 2021 at The Plantation, 1204 New Cleveland Road, Gumdale Qld 4154, commencing at 6.30 pm.

You can view the Notice and Agenda for the AGM at this link. The society will release its annual report at the AGM.
If you have not yet renewed your membership for this season, you can renew your membership by completing the membership renewal form.
Please forward any apologies by email to admin@rlssq.com.au. 
If you have any questions please contact us on (07) 3823 2823 or email admin@rlssq.com.au. 

On behalf of

Mrs Carolyn Asher
The Honorary Secretary
Royal Life Saving Society Queensland Inc

COVID-19 VACCINATIONS: WORKPLACE RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS FOR AQUATIC FACILITIES AND SWIM SCHOOLS

Webinar Details:

Wednesday 1 September 2021, 11:00am-12:00pm AEST

Description:

Royal Life Saving is pleased to facilitate its third Aquatic Industry webinar for 2021-22 and will be joined by practitioners, advocates and experts in the field including:

• Angus Macinnis, Director of Dispute Resolution, StevensVuaran Lawyers
• Associate Professor Holly Seale, Program Director, Bachelor of International Public Health (BIPH), University of New South Wales
• and others

Facilitator:

• RJ Houston, National Manager – Aquatics, Royal Life Saving Australia

Registration for this event is essential, please register at the below link.

Webinar Registration:

Contact:

RJ Houston, National Manager – Aquatics

Email: rjhouston@rlssa.org.au

Disclaimer:

This news story is produced by Royal Life Saving and prepared by StevensVuarans Lawyers who have drafted an opinion piece on the likely effect of a potential vaccine mandate within aquatic facilities, swim schools and the aquatic industry.

The article is designed and intended to provide general information only in summary form and current at the time of publication. The contents do not constitute legal or professional advice and are not intended to be a substitute for legal or other professional advice and should not be relied upon as such. You should seek your own legal advice or other professional advice in relation to any matter you or your organisation may have.

Statement from Queensland Aquatic Industry Alliance

The Queensland Aquatic Industry Alliance (QAIA) was convened in early 2020 as lockdowns emerged in Queensland. The QAIA comprises representatives from industry organisations, local government authority and facilities including ALFAQ, ASCTA, ASSA, AUSTSWIM, Brisbane City Council, City Venue Management, Royal Life Saving Society Queensland and Swimming Queensland.

QAIA have worked continuously with the state government to ensure aquatic facilities, learn to swim and aquatic sport can reopen as soon as safely possible after each lockdown with the least amount of restrictions possible.

The Queensland government have appreciated working with one group that represents the aquatic industry. As a result, QAIA have been able to provide Queensland government with information and confidence that the aquatic industry can operate safely under COVID safe checklist. This has resulted in the ability for pools and associated activity to reopen early and with the least possible restrictions.

With the southeast Queensland lockdown ending on Sunday 8 August the QAIA worked with Queensland government to ensure swim schools and learn to swim, hydrotherapy, recreational activities and aquatic exercise can resume immediately. This is reflected in the Restrictions for Impacted Areas (No. 12) (SEQ eased restrictions Stage 1) Direction.

Direction 12 provides clarity that indoor and outdoor swimming pools can reopen for rehabilitation, learn to swim and recreational purposes with restrictions like physical distancing out of the pool and occupancy density for shared indoor spaces. However, some activities including organised team sport are not permitted.

Each individual facility and operator will need to determine when and how they reopen subject to COVID safe plans and other considerations including third party provider requirements, community sentiment and financial viability.

Additionally, in light of The Department of Tourism, Innovation and Sport (DTIS) releasing a statement to the Sport and Recreation industry (see attached), confirming that operators can return community sport to their venues as it fits the definition of commercial business, therefore our interpretation is that squad training can return under the following guidelines.

Squad training programs to be conducted with adherence to all of the following conditions adapted from the communications received from DTIS :

• swimmers will be in groups of a maximum of 10 with no physical contact between participants;
• participants will physically distance themselves through use of lane spacing, cycle times starts and finishes and lane ropes;
• venue density requirements are followed;
• swimmers will wear masks to and from training and at all times outside of the water;
• swimmers will only use their own equipment and no sharing of equipment will be permitted;
• swimmers will sign in using QLD govt contact tracing app at each training session
• no structured competitions to occur

For more information, please feel free to contact our office during normal business hours.

Paul Barry

Executive Director

The majority of South East Queensland is in a state of lockdown due to the pandemic. Royal Life Saving Society Queensland Inc appreciates that this lockdown will be particularly harder than previous lockdowns.

We have prepared a summary of some support and services from State, Commonwealth and Local Governments which may be of assistance to stakeholders at this time.

Please feel free to share this list with anybody.

Position Statements 2021-03

Position Statement on re-accreditation and licensing requirements for those affected by Lockdowns

A new position statement on ongoing reaccreditation and licensing requirements for key aquatic industry positions has been released by the Royal Life Saving Society – Australia (RLSSA) and the National Aquatic Industry Committee (NAIC).

The statement recognises that the aquatic industry has been deeply affected by COVID-19 lockdowns which mandated the closure of public and learn-to-swim aquatic facilities. It provides owners and operators of aquatic facilities with certainty on rostering aquatic industry staff whose reaccreditation and/or licence renewal for key qualifications has been affected by recent lockdowns.

We are presently looking for:

• Senior Lifeguards (at Gumdale – to Start in September 2021)
• Casual Lifeguards (at Gumdale and Redcliffe)
• Learn to Swim Instructors (Casual – at Gumdale and Burpengary)
• Kiosk attendants (Casual – at Gumdale)
• Customer Service Officer (at Gumdale)

With the industry projected to grow into the future, it is a great industry to get involved in with lots of opportunities to grow your career and make a meaningful impact in your community.  Entry level courses to become a swim teacher, pool lifeguard or one of the many support and office-based roles are relatively quick and won’t break the bank, and you may even be able access government support.

Aquatic industry roles help to make a positive impact on people’s lives. They allow you to work all over Australia calling on the many soft skills you may already have from previous jobs or teaching you skills if it is your first job. For example, communication, teamwork, customer service, problem solving have an important role to play in the aquatic industry.

At the time of writing, on seek.com.au there are:

• 268 jobs for lifeguards (https://www.seek.com.au/career-advice/role/lifeguard)
• 202 jobs for swimming and water safety teachers (https://www.seek.com.au/career-advice/role/swimming-instructor)

You too can make a big impact in a meaningful role in this industry.

Join 67,000 new colleagues in the aquatic industry today.

In accordance with our constitution, this year the positions of Deputy President, Honorary Secretary and two ordinary board member are due for re-election. Any two financial members of the Society shall be at liberty to nominate any person to serve in any vacant position on the Board of Directors. Board members are required to be members of the Society.

The nomination shall be in writing and signed by the nominee, and the proposer and seconder and be lodged by 30 June 2021. The nomination may be hand delivered during business hours to our office at the Plantation (1204 New Cleveland Rd, Gumdale Qld 4154), or posted to the address shown below, however nominations must be received by us on or before 5pm on 30 June 2021.

The Secretary
Royal Life Saving Society Queensland Inc
PO Box 1093
CAPALABA QLD 4157

All nominations must be accompanied by a citation of no more than 200 words (one page with no pictures).
To be eligible, all nominees must comply with requirements for an officeholder as issued by Queensland Government Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and the Australian Charity and Not-for-profit Commission (ACNC) in addition to any requirements of our rules and by-laws. In the event that there are two or more nominations for a role a postal ballot shall proceed of all financial members as at 30 June 2021.

Please note that if you have an unpaid debt to the Society you may not be considered a financial member. When ballot
papers are circulated, the citation of each nominee will be included, with each citation edited to be in a similar format and font. The counting of ballot papers will be conducted by an external law firm and the outcome of the ballot will be announced at the Annual General Meeting which will be before 30 September 2021.

Royal Life Saving Queensland would like to congratulate Life Member Mrs Ann BRETT, which the Governor-General has announced Mrs Brett will receive a Medal in the General Division (OAM) for the Queen’s Birthday 2021 Honours List.

Ann Brett has been continually involved with the Royal Life Saving Society Queensland since 1963 upon being accepted as a Probationary Examiner. She gained her first lifesaving award in 1956, at the age of 12, while attending school, as most Queenslanders did at the time. At Teachers’ College her involvement increased, and she gained her Bronze Medallion (as was the requirement of the Queensland Education Department at the time). Unlike most teachers however, Ann took on the voluntary role of a RLSS examiner with great enthusiasm.

From the mid-1960s to the early 1970’s Ann examined many students at schools and institutions across the south east of Queensland, in her own time. After returning to Australia in 1976 Ann continued volunteering with the Royal Life Saving, assisting with conferences, instructing and examining. In 1982 she became Secretary of the Board of Examiners until 1990. This was a critical time for Royal Life Saving in Australia; the new Swimming & Lifesaving manual was produced with an unprecedented approach to lifesaving and its award structure. Ann managed not only Royal Life Saving Examiners in Queensland, but also a new level of assessors, (for the new awards for Primary School aged population titled Swim & Survive) called Authorised Assessors.

The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or meritorious service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the recommendation of the Australian Government.