Tuesday, 30 August 2022

Victorian blue ocean safety skills centre

This petition of residents in Victoria draws to the attention of the Legislative Assembly the need to urgently support building a dedicated ocean safety awareness centre that focuses on cutting the State’s rising toll of deaths by drowning via educating Victorian secondary school students and community groups in vital ocean safety skills. The Victorian Blue Ocean Safety Skills Centre (VBOSS) based in Apollo Bay midway along the Great Ocean Road, the busiest ocean tourism corridor in Australia, will be Victoria’s first dedicated ocean safety and awareness centre, training more than 3000 Victorian secondary school students a year as well as community groups. It is a community driven initiative actively supported by Life Saving Victoria, Great Ocean Road Health, Colac Otway Shire Council, all sides of politics, and the State’s multi-cultural communities. A record number of people drowned in Victoria last year and historically, we know people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds are five times more likely to drown, making up a third of drowning fatalities in Victoria each year. VBOSS will be a platform for people from all of Victoria’s diverse multicultural communities to take part in ocean safety and awareness training programs.

The petitioners request that the Legislative Assembly require relevant Departments to financially support the development of Victorian Blue Ocean Safety Skills Centre (VBOSS), comprising the redevelopment of the Apollo Bay Surf Life Saving Club and the construction of multipurpose group accommodation at Apollo Bay P–12 College. VBOSS will create more than 70 jobs and contribute more than $35 million to regional Victoria during its construction and development. After the initial capital investment of $15.4 million, across both sites, VBOSSS will be self sustaining in terms of revenue. Importantly, the state of the art facilities will also be capable of being utilised as a refuge in the event of a fire or natural disaster in the Great Ocean Road region.