TRANSCRIPT
Australia is home to some of the best beaches and swimming spots in the world.
Throughout summer in Australia, a trip to the beach or somewhere to swim feels almost mandatory for locals and visitors alike.
But since the COVID-19 pandemic, drowning in Australia has been trending upwards, and this summer alone, 33 people have died in drowning incidents.
Australian Water Safety Council Convener and Royal Life Saving Australia CEO, Dr Justin Scarr, says the swimming ability of Australians is in decline.
“The factors there are obviously Australia is a much more diverse place with many people coming from backgrounds that perhaps don't have a history of strong swimming and water safety skills. This decline not only increases drowning, but it puts barriers in place to people enjoying that sort of great Australian way of life around local rivers in the local pool or at a local beach.”
In response to the rising toll, the Australian Water Safety Council has released their new Australian Water Safety Strategy 2030.
With this, they're hoping to strengthen national efforts to reduce drowning deaths by 50 per cent by the end of the decade.
One contributing factor to the upward trend in drowning deaths is declining water safety skills, particularly among Australians who have moved from countries with limited water safety awareness.
In Sydney, Eve Wheeler is an active patrolling member of Bondi Surf Bathers Life Saving.
With older Australians and migrants both identified as at-risk groups for drowning, Eve Wheeler told SBS Arabic that it's never too late for people to learn.
“My beautiful mother migrated here without swimming, without knowing how to swim in the '70s from Lebanon. And she learned how to swim in her 50s and it was difficult to start with, but in the end now she can swim and she can swim with her children. She can protect her children and her grandchildren. It's the most wonderful skill to have, but it's also lifesaving.”
With small children also at risk, Ms Wheeler says parents and guardians have to be vigilant with kids around water.
“100 per cent essential, your eyes shouldn't be anywhere else except on your children. We see it many times while patrolling, and we urge you to please be present, put the phones down, please be present, watch your children, help them, because in a matter of seconds, they can be taken by a wave and dragged under in a rip. You might not see it, but it can happen.”
The strategy sets out three key focus areas to reverse the current trend: boosting swimming and water safety skills for all, localising water safety efforts, and strengthening coordination across sectors and jurisdictions.
Dr Scarr says many incidents occur when people are exploring Australia's waterways.
“The other thing is I think people are exploring Australia, but by exploring Australia, they're coming into contact with really unfamiliar waterways, whether that's an unpatrolled beach or perhaps a river or a lake in rural Australia. And if they lack their swimming ability or awareness of water safety to keep themselves safe, they're getting themselves into trouble very quickly.”
One at-risk group identified in the strategy is young men aged 15 to 29.
Over-represented in drowning deaths, this group isn't at risk necessarily because they lack the ability to swim, rather they're more likely to take risks around the water.
Dr Scarr says young men can often be harder to reach through traditional health and safety messaging.
“We do believe you can't really separate awareness of water safety from the skills and capabilities to use our waterways successfully. So there is a link between knowing how to swim and knowing where to swim and knowing why not to swim. Alcohol is a significant factor, and we're working very closely with campaigns and also providers, sorry, managers of recreational water spaces to reduce the opportunity for alcohol consumption. But traditionally, it's very difficult to get to young men, and that's why we think boosting life-saving programs in high schools is a pretty good way to go.”
Once a mandatory part of the school curriculum in Australia, in-school swimming lessons are becoming harder and harder to find.
In 2025, Royal Life Saving Australia reported that teachers estimated 48 per cent of Year 6 students could not swim 50 metres and tread water for two minutes.
Dr Steve Georgakis is a senior lecturer of sports studies at the University of Sydney.
He says mandatory swimming lessons in schools can do much more than improve water safety.
“There's no doubt that that is the most important reason. But then if you look at this issue in a little more detail and from a more critical perspective, you realize that if someone is feeling safe and is happy to swim in water, what will happen is that they'll spend more time in the water. And if they spend more time in the water, they'll ask their parents to take them to the beach or to take them to the pool. And they'll have a lot more social learning going on. They'll connect more with nature. They'll connect more with people. They'll connect more with family. And we know psychologically and mentally they'll also feel a lot better about themselves.”
According to parents surveyed, the majority of students going without in-school swimming lessons are from lower socio-economic backgrounds or live in rural and regional communities.
While swimming lessons may be more prevalent in coastal areas, data shows that drowning deaths in rivers are more common than at beaches and 61 per cent of drowning deaths happen outside of major cities.
Dr Georgakis says every single child in Australia should be able to swim.
“What we need to do as a society is to make sure that every single student, whether they're on the coastal fringes of the Eastern Seaboard or that they're in Central Australia, in the desert, then they have an opportunity to learn to swim. We've got to make sure that access is made easy for principals and schools to access learn to swim programs. We shouldn't be charging entry fee. They should be subsidized by the government. This should be a real equity issue. And unfortunately, as the figures tell us today, it's not necessarily the case.”
