Parliamentary Friends of Surf Life Saving Queensland

Representing the Premier, Assistant Minister to the Premier for Veterans’ Affairs and COVID Economic Recovery, Mr Bart Mellish MP; Ministers and Members of Parliament, Surf Life Saving Queensland President, Mr Gerard O’Brien, Members of the Board and CEO Mr Dave Whimpey; distinguished guests.

I begin by acknowledging the original custodians of the lands around Brisbane, the Turrbal and Jagera people, and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and to any other First Nations people here this evening.

As Governor, I am proud to be an advocate for Surf Life Saving Queensland and am honoured to join you this evening as Patron of this forward-looking, enterprising organisation of more than 33,000 volunteers across 58 clubs throughout our State.

This evening’s Showcase is vital to the continuing success of Surf Life Saving Queensland because it provides an opportunity to forge valuable connections.

Our Members of Parliament, as well as the many Vice-Patrons from local government, the public service and the business sector, can all help spread the word that Surf Life Saving in Queensland is much more than those iconic red and yellow flags on our beaches; it is a professionally managed organisation which is now the leading authority on coastal and aquatic safety and which has a firm focus on achieving zero preventable deaths in our State’s public waters through first-class training and education.

Parliamentary Friendship Groups such as this provide an important forum for Members of Parliament to meet and interact with representatives and advocates from a wide range of community-based organisations.

It’s a non-partisan interaction that enables those bodies to raise concerns and increase awareness of their needs, while giving Members a rare opportunity to ask direct questions.

As a not-for-profit entity, Surf Life Saving Queensland relies heavily on government funding and community support to continue its vital work both on and off Queensland’s beaches, and on behalf of all Queenslanders I thank the Queensland Parliament for their ongoing allocation of funding, and for the generous in-kind support provided through this event each year.

I also take this opportunity to thank the Board, staff and volunteers of Surf Life Saving Queensland for their passionate dedication to the safety of Queenslanders.

To give hundreds of thousands of hours of your personal time each year to patrol 8,000 kilometres of coastline from Port Douglas to Rainbow Bay is an enormous commitment and we should all be grateful for that vigilance and service.

Thank you for your selfless dedication and for the opportunity to address you this evening to express our State’s deep gratitude for all that you do.