Given two of the 280 people who drowned in Australia in the 2015/2016 financial year lost their lives in Canberra the question of water safety is a topical one.
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The first of the two deaths occurred at the end of last December when an unsupervised 21-month-old boy from Western Australia fell into a backyard swimming pool. He was not discovered for 45 minutes.
The second tragedy occurred in June when a car drove into floodwaters at the Cotter.
Canberra's two deaths were instances of some of the most common causes of drowning across the nation and reflect the fact just 42 per cent of deaths occur on beaches and in the sea.
They are also exactly in line with a longer term trend that has seen 28 people drown in the ACT between 2002 and 2016. Nine of those were people under 18. More than a quarter were children under four.
This sombre history was the sad backdrop to the Royal Lifesaving Society's revelation this week that only one in seven Canberra kids can swim 50 metres by the end of year 6.
The society is concerned participation rates in its 10-day, pool-based, Swim and Survive program have dropped off significantly since ACT Government subsidies were withdrawn in 2014.
There is a strong view that while it is excellent the government mandates pool fences and other preventative measures, these aren't the be-all and end-all when a growing number of children don't have the skills to save themselves or another once they are in the water.
The issue of water safety is further complicated by socioeconomic factors with children from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds among those least likely to have well developed swimming skills.
Children most likely to meet the 50 metres by end of year 6 benchmark are girls who attend a private school, have a pool at home or are regular visitors to a public pool.
This would, taken alone, appear to back the case for the reinstatement of the ACT Government subsidy under which the cost of participating in the Swim and Survive program was capped at $76 for 10 lessons, a sum just sufficient to cover the cost of bus travel and pool admission.
It would be wrong to consider this in isolation, however. When we look at the bigger picture, the ACT's record on drowning deaths per head of population is the best in the country.
At .44 deaths per 100,000 people in 2015/2016, it was just over one tenth of the 3.86 deaths per 100,000 people recorded in the Northern Territory and only one third of the 1.42 deaths per 100,000 reported in NSW.
There appear to have been no adverse consequences from the ACT's decision to redirect resources into its own Aquasafe program, which involves pool time and class room activities.
The state is doing its bit. The time is ripe for all parents to start doing more.
