Mike Kelly (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Support) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In my electorate of Eden-Monaro there are many remarkable people, but none more so than Ame Barnbrook. She is a young lady who is a finalist for the National Disability Awards, which are taking place tomorrow night as part of the International Day of People with Disability. Young Ame, who is only 20 years of age, suffers from a disease called phocomelia, which affects only about one in five million people. She has overcome severe physical impairments as a result. She basically has no arms and only one leg, which has three toes on it, but with that she is able to do a whole range of activities that she has excelled in, including parasailing and other sports, music—she plays the trumpet with those three toes and one leg—and academia. Ame is a student at the University of Wollongong.

Ame has been competing at club, state, national and international level sailing for 12 years and hopes to represent Australia in the Paralympics in London in 2012. She is a talented musician; she plays a specially modified electronic trumpet and has performed in major concerts in Melbourne and Sydney, with the Yamaha Youth Orchestra in Osaka and at the closing of the IFDS World Championship in Rochester. Scholastically, Ame has consistently produced above-average results throughout school, completing her HSC at Narooma High School. Ame has followed her obvious talent and passion for music to undertake a Bachelor of Creative Arts, majoring in sound, composition and music production at Wollongong university. Throughout her schooling, the New South Wales Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care has provided Ame with a full-time assistant and carer. However, since beginning university, this support has ceased. Wollongong university must be commended for the support it has provided Ame, including modifying buildings and providing staff to assist with her learning program.

The New South Wales Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care provide personal care services but cannot provide the extensive personal care to support Ame’s university education. Her family estimates that she needs an additional 40 hours per week assistance to enable her to participate in her studies to place her on an equal footing with fellow students. I am encouraged by the announcement, after the meeting of disability ministers in Sydney on 30 May this year, of a $1.9 billion boost to disability funding. I am hopeful that under the new agreement reached on that day there will be much needed additional help for Ame and for others like her. Earlier this year, Wollongong university’s coordinator of sound, composition and music production, Dr Houston Dunleavy, wrote a reference for Ame in support of a nomination for a personal achievement award as part of the National Disability Awards 2008. In Dr Dunleavy’s reference, he described Ame as ‘a fine trumpet player and an extremely talented and creative composer’.

I wish Ame all the best for tomorrow night. But, whether or not she wins the award, she is already a champion in my eyes and in the eyes of the rest of the electorate, and I look forward to her success at the 2012 Paralympic Games. I would also like to salute the other activities that are taking place around the electorate for the International Day of People with Disability.

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

Order! In accordance with standing order 193 the time for constituency statements has concluded.