Orange City Council voted on Tuesday night to seek a meeting with NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes to discuss opportunities to improve swim safety in NSW schools and offer to host a pilot program focused on swim safety.

Funding would be sought from private enterprise, the council and state and federal governments. 

Councillor Jason Hamling, who also chairs Orange City Council’s sport and recreation committee, put the motion forward following several conversations with concerned parents.

“I’ve been on this for about four to five years,” he said.

“I do believe swimming is no longer compulsory in schools.

“I’m not talking about swimming lessons, I’m talking about swim safety and I think it should be part of the school curriculum like maths and writing.”

Cr Hamling said swim safety would include skills such as knowing how to get to the edge of a pool, knowing how to float and raising a hand if assistance was needed.

“I don’t want parents to have a choice to say no,” he said. 

The council has raised the matter in the past, but the response at the time was there was already a school swimming program in place. 

However, the program is optional and parents are still expected to cover the cost of transport and pool entry.

About 100,000, or about one in four, students across the state participate in the program annually, which covers water safety, water confidence and survival skills. 

Royal Life Saving NSW has reported half the state's primary school children were unable to swim by the time they reached high school.

While Cr Hamling said he could not comment on the circumstances of the drowning at Orange Aquatic Centre in November, the growing number of fatalities nationwide last year demonstrated “doing what we have always done” was not enough.

“Australia is an island and there’s lots of water in between and these techniques could help,” he said. 

“I’m hoping that we can take this further and make it compulsory in all education facilities in NSW and if it works in NSW, we make it go Australia-wide.”

At the meeting, councillor Kevin Duffy pointed out the main population growth in Orange was in the 0-4 age bracket and he himself was a non-swimmer. 

“It’s simply because I wasn’t given the opportunity to learn how to swim at school and things like that,” he said.