Ann Sudmalis (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have a group called Waminda in the Shoalhaven. They run an iconic program called Dead or Deadly, which could be significantly reduced if we cannot find funds for them. Faye Warner has been working with Aunty Wendy Brown, a Wreck Bay elder, Aunty Gail Wallace, a Nowra elder, Aunty Alison Aldridge, also a Nowra elder, Michelle Jones, Lyn Larkins and Carol Thomas. They have all been working so hard and they look after our Indigenous community from Kiama right down to Ulladulla. Aunty Belle received a posthumous award for reconciliation through Waminda. They have won regional Aboriginal organisation of the year. Aunty Gail Wallace started circle sentencing in Nowra. Hayley Longbottom was voted as a regional NAIDOC worker of the year. She and Cleone were keynote speakers at the National Indigenous Women's Conference in Darwin this year. Krissy Falzon has been a keynote speaker. Their achievements go on and on. This year they are getting ready to be the lead agency for the Women's Wellness Festival in the Shoalhaven, where the theme is domestic violence prevention.

I cannot lobby hard enough for help for them to continue their work. They are looking after Indigenous women who have chronic disease, have a risk of chronic disease and are morbidly obese. Angie, who has been doing training to become a personal trainer, is one of the few Indigenous trainers in Australia. She is thinking about giving up. We have to allow these funds to continue. We are lobbying to keep the Dead or Deadly funding because this uncertainty could end up leaving them not just with Dead or Deadly as a program but dead in the water. (Time expired)