PEREGIAN BEACH SURF LIFESAVING CLUB - FUNDING REQUEST AND UPDATE ON OPERATIONS · Report

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING                                        12 NOVEMBER 2024


   •   Prudent financial management.
   The report details the club’s achievements and key statistics for the 2023-2024 season, which
   include:
   •   75 active patrolling members across 5 patrols (16% decrease from last season)
   •   Continuing patrol support from the Brisbane Lifesaving Service to form a 6th patrol team with
       further volunteer contributions from members from other Sunshine Coast clubs
   •   514 total members (13% increase from last season)
   •   198 children enrolled in nipper program (19% increase from previous season)
   •   Improved financial performance reflecting increased income and expenditure control

4. Progress Towards Full Weekend and Public Holiday Patrols
At the April 2022 Ordinary Meeting, Council resolved to fund SLSQ contract lifeguard services on
Saturdays and public holidays in the surf lifesaving season for a three year period. Accordingly,
PBSLSC has undertaken patrols on the remaining Sundays.
Given Council’s funding commitment ceases in May at the end of 2024 - 2025 patrolling season,
Council officers met with PBSLSC committee members and SLSQ on 10 July 2024, to seek an
update regarding the club’s progress towards full weekend and public holiday patrols for the 2025-
2026 September to May patrolling season.
While PBSLSC is ultimately committed to providing full patrol services, the club’s position is that it is
not yet ready to provide this service level and SLSQ and Council's Property officers acknowledge
the current situation. Any future PBSLSC proposal to progress to full patrol services will need to be
approved by SLSQ and consider a number of factors including:
   •   The number of active patrolling members required to sustainably provide full patrol services
       requires potentially 120 patrolling members (the club currently has 75 active patrolling
       members);
   •   Capacity of the club to train more lifesavers across all award requirements including patrols,
       rescue techniques, patient care, beach management and utilising rescue equipment; and
   •   Span of beach area under responsibility, projected increases to SE Queensland population
       and increasing beach visitation trends.
In recognition of the upcoming cessation of Council’s funding commitment, PBSLSC has requested
Council funding for a further two year period from September 2025. In addition to Sundays, PBSLSC
propose to patrol the 11 public holidays falling within the September to May lifesaving season.
It should also be noted PBSLSC have committed to providing the extra public holiday coverage for
this current season. The existing Council funding agreement does not compel the club to patrol the
public holidays however, the club has voluntarily accepted responsibility and have committed to
providing these services ahead of the proposed new Council funding agreement commencing next
year.
5. State Government Funding
In May 2024, the State Government announced a new 10 year funding package for Queensland Surf
Lifesaving Clubs (see https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/100375). SLSQ had previously
undertaken an infrastructure needs assessment with PBSLSC ranking highly in that review. As a
result of this needs assessment, PBSLSC received $800,000 which will be used to improve and
modernise ground floor member facilities.