Progress against the previous water safety strategy
The following table outlines Victoria’s progress against the Victorian Water Safety Strategy 2016‑2020 (Victorian Water Safety Assembly, 2016) and Australian Water Safety Strategy 2016‑2020 (Australian Water Safety Council, 2016) concerning fatal drowning incidents. Whilst the overall drowning rate has decreased by 8% from baseline, this is well short of the Strategy’s goal of a 50% reduction in drowning by the end of 2020.
Of the 11 priority areas, only two are on track. Urgent work is required across nine areas, especially in priority areas 6. Reduce drowning in coastal waters, and 5. Reduce drowning in inland waterways, which have increased by 34%, and 21% respectively, since baseline. The progress towards each area is outlined in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Progress toward the Australian Water Safety Council 2008 goal to reduce fatal drowning by 50% by 2020
Updated