Editorial: Many young lives will be saved by SOS initiative

QUEENSLANDERS – both current and future generations – have cause to celebrate today.

QUEENSLANDERS – both current and future generations – have cause to celebrate today with the news that all state school students will receive swimming and survival lessons.

The Palaszczuk Government’s announcement that water safety/learn-to-swim classes will be introduced at 100 per cent of public primary schools from next year follows The Courier-Mail’s Save Our Schoolkids (SOS) campaign.

Education Minister Grace Grace and her government colleagues deserve every credit for listening, and more importantly, acting to protect our youngsters. The seriousness of this move cannot be overstated. It is literally a matter of life and death.

The SOS campaign has been one of the most important ever run by this newspaper. We were joined by 45 other News Queensland publications – covering the state from Coolangatta to Cairns – in an unprecedented push, which saw the campaign launched with identical front pages.

It was backed by a bevy of major organisations, including the Australian Water Safety Council, Royal Life Saving Society Australia and Surf Life Saving Queensland, and legendary coaches and swimmers.

And it garnered the support of ordinary Queenslanders, with an overwhelming 80 per cent wanting mandatory swimming lessons in schools.

The genesis for the campaign was simple – to ensure our children are equipped with the skills to keep them safe and enable them to enjoy the water, which is such an important part of life in the Sunshine State.

Queensland has just under 7000km of coastline and 780 accessible beaches.

More than 300,000 homes – almost one in six – have a swimming pool. Yet the state has fallen badly behind others in the provision of school-based swimming and water-safety education.

The result – an inevitable and intolerable toll of deaths and near-drownings. In 2016-17, there were 73 downing deaths in the state – a quarter of all those nationwide. Almost 30 per cent of the 2550 people rescued by Surf Life Saving Queensland the same year were school-aged children, and 80 young children required hospital treatment.

The Palaszczuk Government responded to the SOS campaign by initiating a series of Water Safety Roundtable meetings, bringing together the expertise of key groups, including Surf Life Saving Queensland, Royal Lifesaving, AUSTSWIM and P&Cs Qld.

Those sessions have now culminated in the announcement of an Australian-first strategy designed to make Queensland “the water-safe state’’.

The Government will commit $3.68 million a year – more than tripling the current amount – to expand programs to ensure that each and every state school child gets these essential and potentially life-saving skills.

A water-safety and swimming education program for Prep to Year 10 students will be implemented – in line with the National Swimming and Water Safety Framework and Australian Curriculum. These programs will be backed with a statement of expectations to maintain standards.

And schools will have access to a new $150,000 Swimming and Water Safety Grant fund.

The Courier-Mail applauds the Government for its response and commitment, and eagerly awaits the start of these desperately needed programs.

By last month, the combined value of goods on which the US and China have imposed tariffs had reached tens of billions of dollars.

 

EVERYDAY AUSTRALIANS WILL FEEL THE PAIN OF A TRADE WAR

THE latest gloomy assessment of where a protracted trade war between the US and China may lead for the global and Australian economy is a sobering reminder that we are not immune from the fallout of what could be the greatest shock to international commerce in our lifetimes.

It began in April this year when President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from China – sweeping up other trading partners such as Canada and the European Union along the way. Since then there has been a tit-for-tat war imposing tariffs from one and then the other side of the Pacific. By last month, the combined value of goods on which the US and China have imposed tariffs had reached tens of billions of dollars with threats from both sides to wind these up into the hundreds of billions.

Every time an envoy from Washington sends out a positive feeler, it is shot down by a presidential tweet. Beijing doesn’t differentiate between official statements and tweets, and acts accordingly. Against this background of plenty of aggressive activity and an unsuccessful approach to the World Trade Organisation, observers and interested parties are hoping for the best and planning for the worst.

Yesterday, one of the Big Four accounting bodies, KPMG, issued a report Trade Wars: There Are No Winners, which models probable impacts on Australia of a drawn-out trade war with these superpower economies. The bottom line is as alarming as it is stark – there could be a loss of 60,000 jobs in this country and real wages could be cut by $16 a week.

Australia’s economy could screech to a halt and fall into recession with a shrinkage of 0.5 per cent.

These are economic predictions that many find difficult to comprehend.

However, the suggested loss of 60,000 jobs and a possible cut in the weekly wage of Australian families by $16 is something everyone can relate to and not in a good way. The Government needs to be aware of these possibilities and honest with Australians about the potential scenarios.

 

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Sam Weir, corner of Mayne Rd & Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld 4006. Printed and published by NEWSQUEENSLAND (ACN 009 661 778). Contact details are available at www.couriermail.com.au/help/contact-us