Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last Friday night the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Senator Nigel Scullion, and I had an absolute blast when we were invited to join Linden Brownley and his BLAST youth group at Maku Stadium in Kalgoorlie for their weekly get-together. 'BLAST' stands for 'building lives around sound truth', and their aim is to engage Indigenous kids in team sports and Bible study, keeping them off the streets of Kalgoorlie-Boulder at night. BLAST runs an early session after school for kids up to 11 years of age and a later one for those up to 18. Many have troubled backgrounds and poor attendance at school.

We arrived at 7 pm, just in time to catch a boisterous bunch of almost 50 teenagers playing basketball. After working up a sweat, the kids took time out to compete in a team quiz and a game of reverse charades, with volunteer MC, Heather, and helpers, Linnene and Shekinah. Pastor David Dala Momo showed us through the Maku kitchen, where we met volunteers from the Moonga Gudoo-Gu congregation, who were cooking up a storm for the hungry hordes.

Chatting with BLAST founder, Linden, and coordinator, Stephen Morrison, we identified that one of the critical elements of their program was transporting kids to and from the group safely. To this end, I am pleased to announce that Minister Scullion has secured funding for a bus for BLAST. I congratulate Linden Brownley on his eight years of dedication to getting BLAST off the ground, and his volunteers for helping to keep at-risk Indigenous youth safe at night.

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