Drowning toll falls but the warning for our beaches stands

AUSTRALIA’S drowning toll has fallen 12 per cent in a year but it still sits 10 per cent above the 10-year average and the warning for Bass Coast and South Gippsland beaches has not softened.

Royal Life Saving Australia and Surf Life Saving Australia released the National Drowning Report 2026 at Parliament House in Canberra last week, recording 313 drowning deaths in the 12 months to June 30, down from the record 357 the year before.

The Victorian toll was 53 deaths, eight per cent higher than the state’s 10-year average.

Federal Monash MP Mary Aldred said families should treat the figures as a warning with summer only weeks away.

“This report is a call to action for all Australians as summer approaches,” Ms Aldred said.

“It highlights the importance of always supervising children around water, learning to swim, wearing life jackets, swimming between the red and yellow flags, avoiding alcohol and drugs around water and knowing the conditions.”

The report found almost half of all drowning deaths occurred at coastal locations and almost one-third at inland waterways, and that drowning rates were almost three times higher in regional areas than in the cities.

Men accounted for 82 per cent of drownings nationally and 83 per cent in Victoria.

“Our region boasts spectacular beaches and popular waterways that attract locals and visitors to swim, surf, boat and enjoy,” Ms Aldred said.

“That beauty can hide danger and, tragically, we’ve seen too many drownings and experienced the devastating impact that follows in Monash.”

This coastline has carried more than its share of that toll.

Four members of one family drowned at Forrest Caves Beach on Phillip Island on January 24, 2024, in Victoria’s worst beach tragedy in almost 20 years.

A 12-year-old Melbourne boy went missing in the surf at Venus Bay’s unpatrolled No 4 Beach on the Australia Day long weekend this year and has never been found, after a multi-agency search that walked the sand from Flat Rocks to Inverloch township.

Life Saving Victoria and Monash University are trialling graphic warning signs carrying the message “drowning deaths have occurred here” at Cape Woolamai Surf Beach, Kilcunda Beach and Forrest Caves Beach, while emergency location markers linked directly to Triple Zero Victoria’s dispatch system now stand at beaches across Phillip Island, San Remo, Kilcunda, Cape Paterson and Inverloch.

Ms Aldred said the fall in young child drownings showed prevention work was paying off but families could not ease up.

“Rates of young child drownings continue to decline, reflecting the success of pool fencing regulations and public education campaigns,” Ms Aldred said.

“However, I urge all families not to become complacent. Check your pool fencing, enrol children in swimming lessons and ensure constant supervision around water.”

She acknowledged the volunteers at the Woolamai Beach, Cape Paterson, Wonthaggi, Inverloch, Venus Bay and Waratah Beach life saving clubs, which patrol the region’s beaches through summer and run Nippers programs for local children.

“We all have a role to play to stay safe around water this summer,” Ms Aldred said.