Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Friday, 17 July, I joined with my community at Lifeline's Brass Blokes Gala awards night in Newcastle. The Brass Blokes Award recognises the amazing spirit of blokes within our region. The event raises awareness of men's mental health and helps raise funds for Lifeline in Newcastle and the Hunter region. Lifeline volunteers provide a vital counselling service, and statistics show that men are in particular need. In 2013, 2,522 Australian lives were lost from suicide, with 74 per cent of them male. On the night, we heard from a number of local heroes. Mark Hughes told of his struggle with brain cancer and then setting up his own foundation following a successful NRL career. Nick Newling shared the pain of losing his brother as a teenager and dealing with a mood disorder. Paralympian Kurt Fearnley spoke about resilience and men's health.

The 2015 Brass Blokes Award went to Phil Camden. Since being diagnosed with motor neurone disease three years ago, Phil has raised $30,000 for MND research. I also wish to pay tribute to all of the finalists at the 2015 Brass Blokes Award: Gary Brown, Steve Harrison, Luke Reynolds-McFadden and Mark Hughes. Thank you to Lifeline, Phil, Mark, Nick, Kurt and all nominees for the tremendous work you do in the Newcastle community. Finally, I thank India Jones from year 10 at Kotara High School, who researched and helped prepare this speech while doing work experience in my office. (Time expired)