Bondi Rescue’s Hoppo Launches Summer Water Safety Campaign in Canberra

Canberra, Dec 16^th, 2025: Guests and fans alike at four ACT aquatic venues have been treated to a special visit from none other than Bondi Rescue lifeguard Bruce ‘Hoppo’ Hopkins as he shared an important water safety message to locals ahead of summer.

Hoppo has again teamed up with Australia’s leading swim school, GOswim, to lead one of the nation’s biggest water safety campaigns. Building on last year’s award-winning success, the Float to Survive with GOswim campaign teaches Australians the essential skills to stay afloat in an emergency.

Fans came in droves to meet Hoppo in droves across the weekend at Gungahlin Leisure Centre, Dickson Leisure Centre, Lakeside Leisure Centre and Stromlo Leisure Centre, where he demonstrated his five-step survival technique, reinforcing that drowning can happen to anyone, regardless of their swimming ability.

The campaign responds to new data from Royal Life Saving Australia and Surf Life Saving Australia, revealing that in the past year, 43% of all drownings in the ACT occurred in rivers and creeks, with the highest number of drowning deaths occurring between the ages of 0-4 (15%) and 18-24 (15%).

Hoppo’s ACT visit wrapped up his national tour which has made waves across the country by equipping 60,000 GOswim students with the skills to stay afloat in emergency aquatic situations and inform many more of the need to have this essential skill.

“I’m stoked to have partnered with GOswim to reach tens of thousands of students with this lifesaving message, which is relevant to anyone, in any aquatic situation; whether it is in the surf, creek, river, lake or swimming pool,” Hoppo commented.

“Especially now that we are well into summer, this is a water safety skill that is non-negotiable, and I’m thrilled to have been able to get out and about across the country to spread this message to help Aussies learn how to stay safe in the water.”

Bernice Hay, Area Manager, ACT says the campaign’s message was warmly welcomed across Canberra.

“It was important that we worked with Hoppo to take this message to our Canberra aquatic centres to engage directly with communities and reinforce the importance of floating as a survival skill,” Bernice said.

“While it’s disheartening to see the national drowning statistics heading in the wrong direction, it gives us all a lot of comfort that this campaign has reached so many people in the ACT, giving them the knowledge and skills that might one day save their life in an aquatic emergency.

“We are also very aware that a big responsibility to spread this message lies with our swim teachers across the ACT, so it was great that they got so involved.

“I’m proud that Float to Survive with GOswim is diving into this challenge to help the next generation be better prepared for aquatic emergencies, and I can’t wait to share further news on just how much of an impact this campaign has had,” Bernice concluded.

The campaign also integrated practical training into GOswim lessons nationwide. For the first two weeks of December, more than 250,000 GOswim lessons across nearly 80 locations began with five minutes of float training, based on Hoppo’s five-step Float to Survive strategy:

Keep your head and mouth above water

Control your breathing

Spread your arms and legs for balance

Use a circular motion to maintain buoyancy

Signal for help

The campaign was recently recognised by the Australian Swim Schools Association (ASSA), winning Gold for Marketing and Communications in Victoria and earning national commendation for boosting children’s water safety knowledge and confidence in open water by 20%.

GOswim is one of Australia’s leading swimming programs, delivering more than 2.8 million lessons annually to over 62,500 members.

Watch our coverage of the event here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6llQ5wTcDdI