Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I commend the previous speaker, the member for Forrest, for her remarks.

Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to be able to make this speech in the house today. I'd like to acknowledge and congratulate an outstanding member of the Macarthur community, the Indigenous community and the Australian community, Darryl Wright, who last week received an Order of Australia.

Darryl was born in Murrurundi. He is a Dhanggati man, a man of the fresh air and gum trees, who is Chief Executive Officer of Tharawal Aboriginal Corporation. Tharawal is an Aboriginal community controlled medical and healthcare service that is unlike any other healthcare service in this country. It has been marvelled at by people such as Sir Michael Marmot, the World Health Organization's chair of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health, who said that Tharawal was making the fantasy of a fairer distribution of power, money and resources a reality. It uses community empowerment—a community controlling the services needed for its population—to improve things for its own community.

I've been involved with Tharawal for many years, and the continuing success of the corporation is a result of the guidance and the vision of Darryl's leadership. Darryl has spent his whole life working with Indigenous communities across New South Wales, and also serving as National Aboriginal Sports Academy chair, the Australian Indigenous Rugby League chair, the Corporation for Homeless (Aboriginal Corporation) chair, the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council director and many more official positions. Darryl's lifelong commitment to his community was inspired by his grandmother who was part of the Stolen Generations and was taken from her home to a girls home in Cootamundra. Despite obvious struggles, she always told him to never keep anything to himself and constantly share ideas and pass them along. Darryl's always strived to empower young people in the Aboriginal community.

Tharawal works collaboratively with John Warby Public School to provide extensive support to the Indigenous and non-Indigenous children to provide further education. Darryl is also actively involved in the rehabilitation of Indigenous adolescents incarcerated in the Reiby juvenile detention centre, and I've seen active evidence of what a difference Darryl and Tharawal have made to them. I really congratulate him for this.

Tharawal is actively involved in providing training and support for young people who are unemployed, and it is also actively involved in teaching our nurses and doctors about Indigenous health. My colleague Dr Andrew McDonald and his wife, Dr Jenny McDonald, have for many years provided paediatric support services to Tharawal. Darryl takes great pride in working with Indigenous people, empowering them, making them proud and helping them, and our entire community, to be proud of themselves. Darryl is to be commended for his award. As I've said, nothing gives me greater pleasure than to congratulate him.