Did you know that last year, across our nation, 141 people drowned along our coastline? It was the worst outcome in more than 20 years, and unfortunately, the drownings keep happening. Every summer, the locals in my electorate of Corangamite, which includes some of Victoria's best surf beaches, dread hearing news of swimming fatalities, often on unpatrolled beaches involving visitors inexperienced in the surf.

Surf lifesavers do an amazing job, but they cannot be everywhere. Surfing Victoria understands this, and that's why they have introduced the Surfers Rescue 24/7 program, harnessing surfers' life-saving potential with training in board rescue and CPR techniques.

There are over 80,000 surfers in Victoria, and so far, more than 3,500 have taken part in the program. Surfing Victoria has also partnered with La Trobe University to survey more than 550 Victorian surfers. In the first 24 months of the study, surfers helped prevent drownings by giving safety advice 2,500 times, rescued more than 250 people and administered first aid to over 100 people. What an awesome achievement that is that goes unrecognised.

So, today in this chamber, I say thank you to all those surfers who look out for others in the surf and a big congratulations to Surfing Victoria for helping to keep people safe along the coastline.