Plot to slash swim safety funding despite record NSW drowning toll

After a record-breaking summer of drownings on NSW waterways, Labor’s election costings will see funding for key drowning prevention and swim safety programs slashed.

THE NSW government is ­accusing Labor of cutting $71.1m from community sports projects including funding for Royal Life Saving and programs promoting female sports participation, should it win Saturday’s election.

The cuts, revealed in Labor’s election costings released on Monday, will include core funding for RLS-­allocated drowning prevention and learn-to-swim programs.

It comes despite NSW recording 36 drownings over summer, making it one of the state’s deadliest in living memory.

The costings indicated Labor would make savings by cutting funding for the unallocated sports fund, which is used to finance a range of community sports as well as RLS, AUSTSWIM and Commonwealth Games Australia.

Instead, Labor has pledged $8.8m to host UFC events each year over the first term of government.

RLS NSW fears the drop in funding for swim programs and drowning prevention could lead to more deaths.

Sports Minister Alister Henskens said Labor leader Chris Minns needed to explain why he was cutting funding for grassroots sports.

“Sporting clubs and organisations should be concerned about what is revealed in Labor’s PBO (Parliamentary Budget Office) costings,” he said.

Mr Henskens said the funding would continue under a Coalition government.

Although RLS have said the costings show their funding would be cut, Labor denies this.

“This is another desperate Liberal and National scare campaign,” an opposition spokesperson said.

“Their own costings show that they are stripping funds from the Office of Sport’s budget to pay for their election commitments and they have not explained who they are taking the funds from.”

The oversight comes after a horror summer on NSW waterways with a record 36 drownings.

Royal Life Saving has been lobbying both the NSW government and Opposition to increase funding for its drowning prevention and learn-to-swim programs.

While government funding currently only accounts for 5 per cent of RLS’s total turnover, that equates to $700,000 every year.

RLS NSW chief executive Michael Ilinsky is worried the potential funding cut would lead to more deaths in Australian waterways.

“You’re going to see a drop in participation in activities we can facilitate, vulnerable people will go without,” he said. “The number of swim teachers, these are things we’re going to have to reassess.”