Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In my view, the word 'hero' is bandied around far too often. In fact, we hear about heroes in sport on a daily basis. It might be a fleeting engagement, but ultimately we hear them referred to as having that hero status. Today in this chamber I want to talk about someone who has become a hero of mine. He was an AFL footballer. He played some 192 games for the St Kilda and Fremantle football clubs. But it's not his prowess on the field that makes him a hero of mine; it's what he has done since his career ended.

This person is Heath Black. Heath Black was a talented footballer. He played those 192 games, as I said. But, during his career, he played with undiagnosed bipolar disorder and ADHD. What that meant was that, throughout his career, he self-medicated with alcohol. After his career, without the rigours and routines of a football club, his life ran off the rails. He would tell you as much if he were standing here right now. In fact, it is the fact that he is going around the country telling people his story that makes him a hero for me.

I went to a presentation he gave recently at the Imperial Football Club, as part of Murray-Mallee Local Drug Action Team and, in particular, the Murray Bridge Safe committee. To be honest, all I could say afterwards was, 'Mate, that's incredibly brave.' I'll tell you what was brave about it. He was saying: 'Here's a photo of a bloke at the end of his footy career. He looks strong; he looks fit; he looks like he's on top of the world.' He was telling those young people in that football club who looked at him as a footballer that that wasn't the true story. The true story was that that man was an alcoholic. He was living in the back of his car, and his life was running out of control.

Heath, through sheer effort, has got his life back on track. He is contributing significantly around the community, as I said. He credits a doctor who took an interest in him and helped him over six years—diagnosed his condition and medicated it correctly. Heath is healthy, he is strong and, from what I saw over the last week, he's really a hero. It reminds me of the need to ensure we appropriately fund general practitioners and train them correctly to understand these types of problems. All I can say to Heath is: 'Mate, what you do is unbelievable. You're incredibly brave. Keep it up.'