Bright River Pool diving board to stay after Alpine Shire Council debate

In a report to the council, Life Saving Victoria strongly recommended the platform be removed and dredging to make the water deeper under the board cease.

On Tuesday night Alpine Shire councillors discussed the Ovens River swimming spot issue which has sparked hot debate among townfolk.

The council's chief executive officer, Will Jeremy, said the council was not providing a safe environment for members of the public, many of whom had to be rescued last summer.

The Bright River Pool had 12,262 visits over December and January with 32 rescue incidents involving 50 people being reported.

"I have a responsibility on behalf of council to maintain a safe environment for the public at the facilities that we operate ... from my perspective we're not achieving that," Mr Jeremy said.

"Some of the incidents occur out of hours when we don't have lifeguards ... we're relying on members of the public to rescue other members of the public.

"My staff are being impacted by the jobs that we're asking them to do; it doesn't take a death or a fatality for them to be impacted.

"Their mental health is being impacted by us asking them to go down and work in that river pool. Our contractors put largely junior lifeguards with little experience into that river pool, and they're frequently rescuing people from pretty challenging situations."

Speaking in support of the recommendation Councillor Ron Janas said he understood there was "a lot of community angst in relation to the matter".

"My first and foremost thought on this is safety," he said. "We have a different demographic visiting our town now and not all of those visitors are cognisant with being able to swim safely.

"Our lifeguards are sometimes inexperienced young people who have to react to a situation where they may have to carry or lift out or drag out a person who is substantially larger than them, or somebody who is panicking - it creates bedlam for them.

"I don't want to create a situation where we are a 'nanny' state so that anything that might be a little bit dangerous we're going to get rid of.

"But this particular area here, because of the reasons stated by the experts, is a very high risk for council but, more importantly, it's more of a high risk for vulnerable individuals."

Councillor Simon Kelley, speaking to oppose the motion, said the council should strike a balance between public safety and recreational opportunities.

"The risk assessment that's in the report doesn't align with the data available ... my sense is there's an overstatement of the risk," he said.

"The signage that's there is not ambiguous, there are pictorial diagrams of the types of hazards that are there, including drowning hazards, high water flow hazards.

"I don't believe removal of the diving board will really alter the risk profile, the drowning risk remains, there is signage to support that."

Councillor Katarina Hughes said it was necessary to have lifeguards with more diverse experience.

"It's best that we actually have those (lifeguards) in place. But having the diversity of more experience to be able to raise that standard could be something that we could look at.

"If you can't drive a car, don't hop in one, and I've kind of come to the concept, if you can't swim, you shouldn't be going in the water.

"We can put all the the lifesavers and the signage and things like that in place but ultimately, at what point do public members need to take some responsibility themselves as well?

"I grew up jumping off that diving platform and, yes, incidents happen. But incidents happen all over and I think it comes down to how you respond to that and what things you put in place in order to reduce that risk."

Only two councillors - Tony Keeble and Cr Janas - supported the recommendation, causing a division and prompting Cr Hughes to proffer an alternative motion.

It was to note the implementation of risk management recommendations from Life Saving Victoria.

It was also to "note safety incident statistics over the 2022-2023 summer season; gather, monitor and assess safety and incidence statistics in the area around the jumping board; and dredge the riverbed over the next summer."

All councillors except for Cr Janas voted in favour of the alternative motion which meant the platform would stay for the time being.

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