KEEP PATROL FLAGS FLYING
IT is the beach debate that won’t go away.
Just how effective are the red and yellow flags that mark the relatively safe havens of the patrolled areas?
Rob Brander, the surf academic known as “Dr Rip’’, has lobbed a bomb in arguing the message of swimming between the flags has lost its impact.
The flags have confused foreign tourists for decades, but that certainly does not mean we reverse what we are doing on our beaches. Instead, the message has to be reinforced through education – on the flight here, in the hotels and for students, in the educational institutions.
Signs have to be prominent. Consideration has to be given to whether artwork used to explain what the flags mean is confusing for people from other cultures.
What is evident in the debate and as the Gold Coast reels from another surf tragedy is the size of the problem lifesaving authorities are up against.
Our Gold Coast beaches are relatively well patrolled, with surf clubs and lifeguard towers spread along their length, yet people still can’t be bothered strolling a couple of hundred metres at most to swim where it is safe.
Then there is the matter of hours when the flags are set. Many people, particularly working locals, want to swim in the early morning or late afternoon, often when lifeguards or volunteer lifesavers are not on the beach.
Across the border, patrolled areas are few and far between and, as Dr Brander says, no one is going to drive 10km from their beachside holiday home to find a patrolled area. They will walk down to the surf directly in front of their expensive accommodation.
As he says, for holidaymakers and the high-risk young adult or teen male demographic, the priority is a good time, not safety.
Marketing and advertising expert Toby Ralph, when asked to comment on what sort of strategy could be used to reinforce the flags message or to suggest an alternative, disagreed the flags had lost their relevance, arguing they would continue to save lives.
But he said the real heavy lifters in any campaign were the tough-love approaches – RBT to stop drink driving; rocketing prices to cut smoking.
To rein in the incidence of beach drownings, the flags would have to be complemented by much, much more of the same. More lifesavers and professional lifeguards, and more equipment such as rescue choppers and drones.
That is where cost becomes a crucial factor. How much are Australians prepared to pay to bolster the surf lifesaving movement and the professional services?
That sort of dilemma must lead to close scrutiny of priorities and, assuming donors and taxpayers decide surf lifesaving warrants a big boost, insistence that additional funding goes where it is needed – for increasing numbers, for training and for lifesaving equipment, with emphasis on protecting beachgoers and saving lives – and keeping the flags flying.