Delegates from across the North West regions of WA gathered in Broome to complete some professional development and return to face to face networking with industry colleagues and Trade Exhibitors for the 25th North West Aquatic Recreation Seminar.

The professional development sessions started with a Royal Life Saving Bronze Medallion and Pool Lifeguard Requal followed by Priority 1 Fire and Safety coming up to complete a SCBA Refresher a couple of days before the seminar.  

35 delegates and Trade Exhibitors attended the Seminar held at the Broome Recreation and Aquatic Centre on Friday 21st May.

The day kicked off with LIWA Vice President Chris Blankley welcoming delegates to the seminar.  Chris will be stepping down as Vice President this year and will be passing the baton onto LIWA Board member SJ Whiteley who was invited to join us in the North West to introduce herself to delegates and be on the recruitment drive to get more regional representation on the LIWA Board.

LIWA Aquatics was pleased to have Colin Hassell (who had served on the LIWA Aquatics board for many years and now President of Royal Life Saving WA) on hand to officially open the 25th LIWA Aquatics North West Aquatic Recreation Seminar.

It was great to have Arnold representing the Yawuru people of Broome to come and speak to the delegates and Welcome us to Country.  It was a priviledge to meet in the land of the Yawuru People who shared the importance of what water means to them and those who pass through their land.

Sargent Shane Scott is the Youth Policing and Community Engagement Coordinator -  West Kimberley District Engagement & Support for the WA Police Force.  Shane spoke about the youth engagement within regional areas and provided some insight to youth offenders and the programs that they are working on to improve antisocial and criminal behaviour for youths in regional communties.  This presentation resignated with a lot of the delegates who unfortunately deal with these issues regularly. 

Greg Tate from Royal Life Saving provided an update on the Water Safety Forum that was held in Broome the week before.  It was an engaging day with local community businesses and organisations with discussion on Water Safety and developing a safety plan for the Kimberley region.

Greg Tate together with Colin Hassell were then on hand to present numerous awards to RLSS Remote Pool Manager staff (Click image below for Full article)

The floor was then opened to delegates to provide some insight to their pool and the season they had before lunch was served and further networking could be done with the trade exhibitors that attended.

LIWA would like to thank the following Trade Exhibitors for supporting the North West Seminar this year.

• Chadson Engineering
• Shenton Enterprises
• Sigma Chemicals
• Fluidra
• Pool Robotics Perth
• Priority 1 Fire & Safety

After lunch delegates were updated on the latest developments around training with Leanne Coverley-Brandis going through the changes to the Swim Teacher, Pool Lifegaurd, Pool Operations courses and First Aid Units.

Tony Head then provided an update on several successful programs that have been running in the regional and remote areas being Swim for Fruit, the Make the Right Call campaign which targets adults 55+  to Know the conditions, know your limits, know the gear and know what to do and our very successful Watch Around Water program update.

Sarahjayne Whiteley then provided the delegates with any update of LIWA Aquatics Strategic Plan for 2021-2024 and opened to floor to gain some feedback and insight as to what was important to them in terms of LIWA's priorities over the next 3 years.

The day finsihed with dinner at the Divers Tavern which allowed to delegates to relax a little and further network over a great meal and social drink to cap off a successful few days in WA's North West Broome.

LIWA would like to thank the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries and Royal Life Saving WA for their ongoing partnerships and support, Trade exhibitors who attended, delegates and the Staff at the Broome Recreation & Aquatic Centre for allowing us to host this event at your venue.

Other events this year are the Annual State Conference and Trade Display in Fremantle 16/17 August 2021.