The Australian<\/a>.<\/p>\nLiverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun said the council area was the \u201cmost multicultural\u201d in Australia with a high number of residents coming from countries where swimming lessons are not offered at childhood.<\/p>\n
\u201cDrowning can happen in seconds, so having technology that can alert our lifeguards to a potential problem gives them another tool when every second counts,\u201d Mr Mannoun said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is creating an extra layer of safety and reassurance in what unfortunately can sometimes be a dangerous environment. Safety is our prime concern at all our swimming centres.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Mr Singh said the council\u2019s use of cameras and AI to minotor swimmers in real time and alert lifeguards was \u201cwell-meaning\u201d but risks breaching existing surveillance laws in NSW.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder Section 9 of the Act, it is a criminal offence to knowingly install, use or maintain a tracking device without the express or implied consent of the person being tracked. The use of this type of technology would, on the face of it, be a breach of this Section unless the Council were to obtain the consent of each person who attended the pool,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A council spokesperson said consent is obtained via signage. They said pool facilities already have 24-hour surveillance in place.<\/p>\n
Mr Singh said this may not be enough as the technology is different from CCTV in that it tracks people inside the centre. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe behaviour that Section 9 of the Act criminalises is the tracking of people, not the mere recording of them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Corporations found to be in breach of the Act face a fine of up to $55,000. <\/p>\n
The technology has been introduced at Whitlam Leisure Centre, with plans expand the roll out to other pools including the Michael Wendon Aquatic Leisure Centre, Holsworthy and a new aquatic centre planned for Carnes Hill.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Belgravia Leisure, which operates the Whitlam Leisure Centre,said the project is an important investment in community safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhitlam Leisure Centre plays an important role in supporting health, wellbeing and water safety across Liverpool,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are proud to have introduced this technology as it gives our team another layer of support and reinforces our commitment to creating safe, welcoming and confidence-building aquatic experiences for everyone who visits.\u201d<\/p>\n
News.com.au has approached Liverpool City Council for comment.<\/p>\n
The latest data from Royal Life Saving Australia and Surf Life Saving\u2019s National Drowning Report shows 357 people drowned between July 2024 and June 2025, a figure 27 per cent higher than the 10-year average.<\/p>\n
While children had the lowest rates of drowning across the nation, deaths rose sharply for people more than 15 years old and were more than the 10-year average for every age group older than 45 years.<\/p>\n
There was a 63 per cent increase for people aged more than 75 years and one-third of deaths were migrants.<\/p>\n
About 87 per cent of Australia\u2019s population lives within 50km of the coastline, where almost half of all drowning deaths occurred.<\/p>\n
The report found swimming, fishing and visiting unpatrolled locations remained high-risk activities in coastal areas.<\/p>\n
Royal Life Saving Australia chief executive officer Justin Scarr has described the shocking figures as a wake-up call.<\/p>\n
Read related topics:Sydney<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The groundbreaking trial of an AI lifeguard at a Sydney council\u2019s pools could be breaching NSW surveillance laws,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[109365,109334,109351,109389,109377,38072,37886,5859,109349,109340,109358,109336,87048,100922,87249,92585,65338,109355,44915,43319,50534,109384,109335,96064,109328,109369,109339,93011,1131,109366,109359,109356,109382,109379,109376,109338,38051,57092,94848,109350,22,23,21,99141,91829,109330,13453,28761,109329,201,36917,36861,24471,4543,109364,109323,16097,40381,3352,109361,62508,12660,96026,20167,58819,109388,109347,109325,1849,109378,109345,109332,109371,55712,38447,3795,96027,109331,2475,35954,60412,109393,39083,54967,109367,3936,37007,596,109391,38975,109353,75145,109322,109348,42903,7350,109360,33714,109362,48915,3733,12421,109337,32049,968,109387,109374,52303,109357,21683,109372,121,4381,88708,109383,37604,18461,109321,247,1134,109390,109342,109324,36771,109333,109327,109373,52794,36649,36676,41310,109344,38322,87074,109346,39951,109380,44630,109326,109368,109385,36847,41244,37046,38222,109341,109354,109381,45053,109343,39522,109320,52899,45045,48976,52193,109392,109352,109375,109386,109363,109370],"class_list":["post-75010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-s-ai-lifeguard","tag-s-national-drowning-report","tag-s-pools","tag-s-population-lives","tag-s-use","tag-s-west","tag-37886","tag-5859","tag-24-hour-surveillance","tag-357-people","tag-45-years-there","tag-50km","tag-87048","tag-a-63","tag-a-breach","tag-a-council","tag-a-criminal-offence","tag-a-dangerous-environment","tag-a-figure","tag-a-fine","tag-a-high-number","tag-a-legal-expert","tag-a-new-aquatic-centre","tag-a-potential-problem","tag-a-swimmer","tag-a-sydney-council","tag-a-tracking-device","tag-a-wake-up-call","tag-ai","tag-ai-lifeguard","tag-alert-lifeguards","tag-all-drowning-deaths","tag-all-our-swimming-centres","tag-an-ai-lifeguard","tag-an-extra-layer","tag-an-important-investment","tag-an-important-role","tag-another-layer","tag-another-tool","tag-astor-legal","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-austrlia","tag-avinash-singh","tag-beaches","tag-belgravia-leisure","tag-breach","tag-cameras","tag-carnes-hill-a-spokesperson","tag-cctv","tag-cent","tag-cent-increase","tag-childhood","tag-children","tag-coastal-areas-royal-life-saving-australia-chief-executive-officer-justin-scarr","tag-comment-the-latest-data","tag-community-safety","tag-consent","tag-council","tag-council-spokesperson","tag-countries","tag-deaths","tag-distress","tag-drowning","tag-each-person","tag-every-age-group","tag-every-second","tag-existing-surveillance-laws","tag-health","tag-high-risk-activities","tag-holsworthy","tag-its-pools","tag-july-2024-and","tag-june-2025","tag-last-year","tag-law","tag-lifeguards","tag-lifesavers","tag-liverpool","tag-liverpool-city-council","tag-more-than-15-years","tag-more-than-75-years","tag-mr-mannoun","tag-mr-singh","tag-new-ai-tracking-technology","tag-newcastle","tag-news-com-au","tag-nsw","tag-nsw-surveillance-laws","tag-one-third","tag-other-pools","tag-our-commitment","tag-our-lifeguards","tag-our-prime-concern","tag-our-team","tag-people","tag-place-mr-singh","tag-plans","tag-pool-facilities","tag-real-time","tag-report","tag-residents","tag-royal-life-saving-australia","tag-safe","tag-safety","tag-safety-and-reassurance","tag-said-a","tag-seconds","tag-section-9","tag-signage","tag-similar-tech","tag-south-australia","tag-support","tag-surf-life-saving","tag-surveillance-laws","tag-swimmers","tag-swimming","tag-swimming-lessons","tag-sydney","tag-technology","tag-the-most-multicultural","tag-the-10-year-average","tag-the-10-year-average-while","tag-the-act","tag-the-act-criminalises","tag-the-act-face","tag-the-australian-liverpool-mayor-ned-mannoun","tag-the-behaviour","tag-the-centre","tag-the-city","tag-the-coastline","tag-the-consent","tag-the-council","tag-the-council-area","tag-the-express-or-implied-consent","tag-the-face","tag-the-groundbreaking-trial","tag-the-kit","tag-the-lowest-rates","tag-the-mere-recording","tag-the-michael-wendon-aquatic-leisure-centre","tag-the-nation","tag-the-person","tag-the-pool","tag-the-project","tag-the-roll","tag-the-shocking-figures","tag-the-surveillance-device-act-2007-the","tag-the-technology","tag-the-tracking","tag-the-use","tag-the-whitlam-leisure-centre","tag-this-section","tag-this-technology","tag-this-type","tag-trouble","tag-unpatrolled-locations","tag-up-to-55","tag-welcoming-and-confidence-building-aquatic-experiences","tag-wellbeing-and-water-safety","tag-western-sydney-council","tag-whitlam-leisure-centre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}