Mark Coulton (Parkes, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion. I thank the member for Fraser for introducing this motion into the House. Unlike the member for Fraser I have absolutely no ability at all on the running track. Indeed, the last run I went in was a 10-kilometre run around the Dubbo zoo, and at one stage some misguided child tried to feed me peanuts, thinking that I was one of the elephants. But I am pleased to speak on the Indigenous Marathon Project. I actually have found out a little bit more about this in recent times, because the member for Fraser mentioned the original runners in Rob de Castella's project that went to New York, and one of those is Charlie Maher. Charlie Maher is now the director for the Clontarf Foundation South Dubbo campus and is doing a wonderful job with the young boys with the Clontarf program. Indeed, I was chatting with Charlie only a couple of weeks ago, when I was up at South Dubbo at the academy, and he was telling me what was happening with the boys in Dubbo and a little bit about the run that he has just come back from, where he has run in the marathon in Japan. Charlie grew up in a settlement a couple of hundred kilometres out of Alice Springs, from—he will tell you himself—pretty disadvantaged circumstances. With a combination of the Clontarf Foundation and the hand-up given by Rob de Castella, Charlie is now using the skills that he has, and the great way that he is held within the community, to mentor younger men and doing much the same.

Another young Dubbo resident, Nathan Riley, ran in last year's New York City Marathon. He ran the fastest time of the team there, and I think it was the coldest New York City Marathon for some time. Nathan is a wonderful role model. Since he has been back from New York, he has held two IMP Deadly Fun Runs, and in the last one he had over 91 boys involved in the Deadly Fun Run. As little as a couple of weeks ago, while the tryouts were being held at Barden Park in Dubbo for the team for next year's marathon, Nathan was once again there running with the boys, encouraging them to participate.

This is a project that has come from harnessing what many of these young men and women have as a natural ability to run; they just have not had the circumstances and the ability to compete. I can remember Rob de Castella speaking about one of his original runners from Maningrida. One of the problems in training at Maningrida was that every time you were in the tanks at Maningrida and broke into a run you would end up with a pack of dogs hot on your heels. So it was very difficult for that person to train in his home town, so coming away and training with Rob de Castella was certainly a great benefit to him.

This project uses running to change lives. The core running squad push their physical and mental boundaries to a whole new level, and after crossing the finishing line of the biggest marathon in the world they know that they can achieve anything. These runners are trained to become healthy lifestyle leaders by completing a Certificate IV in Leisure and Health, with a focus on Indigenous healthy lifestyle. The qualification is used to promote community-based health and exercise initiatives, including the Deadly Fun Run series. Runners become role models within their communities and are leaders in the promotion of health and physical exercise to address the high incidence of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and renal failure.

Those two wonderful examples I have just used—Charlie Maher and Nathan Riley in Dubbo—are doing exactly that. As someone who represents a lot of Aboriginal people in this place, it is great to be able to speak about something that actually makes a difference and works. I have heard various speeches made in this chamber—some as recently as last week—of a great political nature, and quite often the best results are the ones that do not come from large, grand schemes but just involve someone like Rob de Castella rolling up his sleeves, seeing a need and applying himself to it, and young men like Charlie Maher and Nathan Riley stepping up to the plate, overcoming the disadvantage of their youth and becoming community leaders.

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