Rees to look at pool regulations | Parenting

1st December 2008

PREMIER Nathan Rees says he will look again at safety regulations for backyard pools after three toddlers drowned in NSW in a week.

Mr Rees said there had been ongoing debate about pools, including whether pools built before new laws were enacted in the early 1990s should be fenced.

"I'm happy to have a look at that," Mr Rees told reporters.

"The challenge is to get the balance right between making sure children are safe and not having onerous regulations."

Two-year-old Harry Connors died after his father found him in the family's swimming pool on Kalora Crescent, in Charlestown, just after 7pm (AEDT) on Saturday.

Paramedics took him to Newcastle's John Hunter Hospital but he died a short time later.

The Charlestown toddler was the third to have drowned in NSW pools in less than a week, after twins Ethan and Matthew Hill died on the Central Coast.

The boys, aged 21 months, were riding plastic bikes around the sunroom of their St Huberts Island home last Monday, before they let themselves out and made their way to the pool.

Mr Rees has urged people to keep an eye on small children this summer, saying many drowning deaths were avoidable.

"I just remind people as we head into summer that many of these tragedies can be avoided," he said.

"It's incumbent on all of us to keep an eye out for children."

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