We caught up with Philippa Lohrey, State Advisor for Lifesaving and the Chair of the SLST Lifesaving Advisory Committee, to learn more about her role, her portfolio and upcoming goals for the 2025/26 season.

Philippa has been involved in the lifesaving community for over 20 years before she took on this role, now going into her third year. What drew her to applying for the position was her overarching desire to help people.

“ I find it really rewarding in being able to bring about positive change to help not only the patrolling members, but to serve the needs of the community as well,” she said. 

The Lifesaving State Advisor supports clubs to deliver effective, community-focused patrol services. The role involves helping clubs meet service agreements, ensuring members have the right training and qualifications, and providing support where needed. It also includes implementing national changes, coordinating training and skills maintenance, and maintaining regular communication with club leaders.

With plenty of tasks under her portfolio, Philippa has learned the role requires a flexible, collaborative approach that recognises and values the time and commitment of volunteers.

“I'm just so grateful that people give up their time to patrol and serve their community that I think you have to go into these sorts of things with a flexible attitude and find a way to work with people,” she said.

One of Philippa’s highlights from the previous season was the successful  IRB Women’s Weekend in Hobart. 

“ In a male dominated part of Surf Life Saving, which is IRBs, it was nice to have women be able to all come together as a community. That was fantastic,” she said. 

Looking ahead to the upcoming season, Philippa said there are plenty of tasks being worked on with a key goal of sustainable patrolling for all clubs.

“You want to make sure that people are happy and they get joy out of patrolling and that you don't put barriers in place that make it not enjoyable. We want to make it an enjoyable experience for everybody and that people want to come back and be with their club and friends on patrol.”