Thursday, 13 November 2025

 Trung LUU (Western Metropolitan) (19:21): (2110) My adjournment this evening is for the Minister for Emergency Services, regarding the state government’s decision to transfer responsibilities for paid lifeguard patrols from the state to local councils and taxpayers, and the action I seek is for the minister to immediately reverse this decision and reinstate full state government funding for Life Saving Victoria’s professional lifeguard program ahead of the upcoming summer season. For decades lifeguard patrols have been a core, state-funded service, protecting Victorians and visitors alike across our coastal regions. This government consistently uses the phrase, ‘This saves lives.’ Well, guess what? These patrols save countless lives every single summer. They are not a luxury, they are a lifeline. Yet this year the government has told councils to pay the bills themselves, leaving councils scrambling to find hundreds of thousands of dollars outside their adopted budgets, which sets a precedent for them to pay in the future as well.

Along with other bayside councils, Hobsons Bay City Council in my electorate, which obviously includes the Altona and Williamstown beaches, received a request from Life Saving Victoria for $88,000 for a service that has always been funded by the state government, not taxpayers. Lifesavers are an emergency service. They belong under the state emergency services portfolio alongside police, fire and ambulance services. Beach safety is not a local feature like a bin or a barbecue, it is a statewide responsibility tied to emergency response and public health. This cut comes despite the rise in drownings over last summer. The 2023–24 Life Saving Victoria Drowning Report recorded 54 deaths. Forty per cent of those were from multicultural communities like many in my electorate. This government says it cares about multicultural communities. Well, their actions say otherwise.

Hobsons Bay – and many other councils – warn that fewer paid patrols will put lives at risk as crowds surge this summer. To make matters worse, this demand comes on top of the government already directing the council to collect more than $9 million for the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund. The state has now begun to ask them to ask for tax to fund lifesavers too. Victorians are not asking for luxuries, they are just asking for safe beaches. We cannot expect volunteers to carry the burden alone, and we cannot make local taxpayers fund this vital service, so I urge the minister to restore the full state funds for lifeguard patrols before the summer begins.