Sydney beaches are extra crowded this summer as the New South Wales coast sees a huge increase in visitors after two years of record-high immigration.
Surf Life Saving NSW said the state’s beaches have had 4 million visitors since December 1, one million more than the same period last year.
There have also been more than 1,000 rescues, averaging out to about 23 per day.
“A thousand people have been saved by surf live savers in NSW and that is an amazing feat, a wonderful feat and it speaks greatly about our volunteers,” NSW Minister for Emergency Services Jihad Dib told 9 News.
Sydney’s beaches are also set to get an influx of visitors from Sydney’s west, with councils organising free buses to ship residents to beachside suburbs, 7 News reported.
Fairfield Council, where just 8.8% of residents have Australian ancestry and 79.4% use a language other than English at home, started its free bus service on Sunday, and Mayor Frank Carbone said it was saving each resident about $100 a day.
Mr Carbone said there will be two more free bus days this year, but said it could not become a regular service unless the state government chipped in.
Canterbury Bankstown Council, where fewer than 50% of residents were born in Australia and Islam is the largest religion, is also offering free bus rides to Cronulla on Tuesdays and Thursday for the next two weeks.
According to the National Drowning Report 2024, those born overseas made up 34% of drowning death in recent years, resulting in new taxpayer-funded programs like Float to Survive which teach immigrants swimming and water safety.
Australia has allowed more than 1.4 million immigrants into the country since May 2022, with most moving to NSW and Victoria.
Header image: Bondi Beach (Alex Proimos from Sydney, Australia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
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