Warren Entsch (Leichhardt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this afternoon to highlight the amazing work of Dr Tim White, one of the founders of the highly successful Kapani Warrior program. The Kapani Warrior program, composed mainly of veterans, and nearly entirely self-funded, was established in 2012 and has become an outstanding success and a beacon of hope for many.

Kapani Warrior program is an anger inoculation program for Indigenous men aged 18 to 30 and living in remote communities. Participants are coached by veterans through rigorous training camps designed to boost confidence and self-esteem, and also learn ways to manage their own emotional situations. Such is the program's success that there has been an astounding 75 per cent reduction in public nuisance offences across a number of Cape York communities that the Kapani Warriors are involved with.

The program has also led to valuable employment opportunities for participants, including with defence, the SES and local and regional employers. In fact, more than 157 program graduates have entered military service, of which 87 per cent have graduated recruitment training. This is an amazing success by anybody's standards.

I want to take this opportunity to publicly thank Dr White and his dedicated team for the amazing work that they're doing. They are literally saving lives and changing lives. I say thank you very much indeed in that acknowledgement.