Two Illawarra surf clubs facing threat

Presidents of Corrimal and Port Kembla Surf Life Saving Clubs are refusing to roster their members on Saturdays, when paid council lifeguards patrol their beaches.

Port Kembla’s David Erskine,  and Corrimal’s Tony Cartwright claim their limited volunteer workforces have spent past Saturday shifts ‘‘sitting around’’ because they are surplus to requirements. 

The men want the requirement written out of a new three-year service agreement with SLSNSW.

After months of negotiation, the SLSNSW board voted on Monday to discontinue the clubs’ memberships if they did not sign the agreements.

The move would render the clubs ineligible for competitions and – without insurance – spell the end of their nippers programs, Mr Cartwright told members.

‘‘The doors on our surf club will be locked – no patrols, no nippers, no competition, no access to the gym or amenities and we will be required to commence securing &/or selling club assets,’’ he wrote, on the club’s website.

The new agreements require Illawarra clubs to provide three volunteers for a total of 24 patrol hours, spread across the busiest six Saturdays of the year.

But Mr Erskine said the club’s past experience of Saturday patrols showed they weren’t required.

‘‘We go and see council lifeguards and they say, ‘just sit up on the promenade’,’’ he said.

‘‘It’s hard to get members to join the club. There’s nothing worse than having them sit there, knowing they don’t have to be there.’’

Mr Cartwright said lifeguards had encouraged his members to ‘‘wash their car’’ or use the club house gym during past Saturday shifts. 

The men have proposed an alternative arrangement where Port Kembla and Corrimal volunteers would be on call in the event of an emergency. 

Fifteen of the Illawarra’s 17 surf life saving clubs have signed the new agreements, after more than a year of negotiation led by Surf Life Saving Illawarra’s Val Zanotto.

Mr Zanotto said the talks resulted in  concessions, to the point that Illawarra clubs did the least Saturday hours of any branch in NSW. 

Mr Zanotto dismissed suggestions that the volunteers’ time was being wasted, saying if they were idle it was because their patrols were disorganised.

‘‘Why don’t they do some training? There’s many things you can do,’’ he said.

‘‘Since 1907 our core business has been surf life saving. Every other part – surf sports, boat rowing, IRB racing and all the other things – are bonuses if they have time.

‘‘If they have time for those things, they can dedicate a bit of time to our core business.’’

All 17 Illawarra surf clubs have memberships lower the state average. 

Their volunteers are responsible for patrols on Sundays and during public holidays. 

SLSNSW president Tony Haven wrote to Port Kembla and Corrimal club representatives this week, giving them until Thursday to sign the agreements. He said the proposed Saturday hours amounted to ‘‘a reasonable request’’ and  a reduction was ‘‘inconceivable’’.

Mr Haven told the Mercury the Saturday requirements were written in partly with population growth in south-western Sydney in mind. 

Since 2012-2013, visitors to Illawarra beaches have risen 48per cent, to 391,997 last season.

At Corrimal, attendance spiked to 30,591 – almost 10,000 more than the beach’s five-year average. 

At Port Kembla there were 18,268 visitors – more than 5000 above the five-year average.

‘‘Volunteer surf lifesavers and clubs in the Illawarra are well respected and appreciated by the public and have a good working relationship with employed council lifeguards,’’ Mr Haven said. 

‘‘By working together, lifesavers and lifeguards have ensured that there have been no drownings on Illawarra beaches for the past two seasons.’’