Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker Burke, congratulations on your appointment. Congratulations to all new members in this chamber and to returning members; it is nice to see you again.

I would very much like to talk about a very active group in my electorate: the Mersey Police and Community Youth Club movement. This movement began seven years ago. Effectively, its aim is to reduce crime by providing positive relationships between young people and the police. Some of the activities that they have been involved in are blue light discos, circus workshops, Mack trailer visits and Police in Schools activities.

The Mersey Police and Community Youth Club movement’s mission is to provide low-cost, positive sporting, recreational, social and cultural programs in a safe environment and primarily for at-risk youth. It has come together and created a really innovative program, which the Commonwealth is contributing to, along with Tasmania Police, the National Community Crime Prevention Program, the Devonport Council, the Kentish Municipal Council, the Tasmanian Community Fund and the Lighthouse project. It is called ‘operation rewind’. Its aim is to engage local youth at risk to modify their behaviour and challenge their thinking and values by using mentoring to expose participants to positive and constructive role models.

The target group are 12- to 17-year-old youths at risk, male and female, from the north-west and west coast of Tasmania. Over a 10-week delivery of projects, participants will be attending a four-hour workshop per week on automotive mechanics. I saw them setting this up the other day, and it looks really interesting and will be highly attractive. These are hands-on activities, and booklets which are designed to give a basic introduction to the mechanical trade will be used by the participants. I am sure I should attend some of these workshops and learn a thing or two.

On top of that, outdoor educational activities will be delivered on another day of the week for a two-hour contact period. This will allow the participants to partake in some low and high ropes courses—goodness gracious! They will also be learning how to kayak. I am threatening to buy a kayak myself, but one with greater buoyancy than I have seen recently. They will also be enjoying team-motivating activities, which we could all benefit from, no doubt.

‘Operation rewind’ will then culminate in a camp over three days. The camp will be conducted utilising the facilities at Paton Park, a beautiful facility in North Motton in my electorate, south of Ulverstone. Activities on-site will be structured to utilise and reinforce the skills, knowledge and attributes developed over the period of the program, with a view to building resilience and self-reliance, improving decision making and working effectively in a team environment. That sounds terrific, and I know they are all geared up and ready to go. They are inviting participants to apply for these workshops.

Like any program, it relies on the people taking the program, as we know and as we are all happy to represent in our electorates. I would like to mention, if I may, a number of the activity facilitators. There is Constable Steve Orme, who will look after outdoor education. He has been in the Tasmania Police force for eight years and he founded a very important youth community project called Sentinel. He has all the attributes and skills to assist these applicants in their outdoor education. Then there is Constable David Quinn, who is going to look after the mechanical education. Like many in our police forces and emergency services, they are multiskilled. They come from a variety of backgrounds, as we do in this place. David has also been in the Tasmania Police force for eight years and has a whole heap of qualifications to do with mechanical education. Then there is Richard Douglas, who will also assist with outdoor education. He has been 12 years in the police force and, again, has a large range of skills that will be utilised. Finally, Stuart Clayton will be doing the kayaking and the martial sports. He has had 20 years in this area, with eight years particularly in the martial arts.

So the participants are going to be well trained. These are highly motivated people and this is an excellent program to be offered to young people at risk. I thank them for ‘operation rewind’ and I look forward to it happening in the future. (Time expired)

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