Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The idyllic Moreton Bay islands are amazing places to visit, but thousands of local residents in my electorate suffer significant isolation challenges through lack of services. You can understand it's hard to deliver services on an island, but this particular population faces unique challenges because of the expense of travelling by water, obviously, and the distance to the services. And then, when you fund or contract a provider, the amount of money they spend getting to the island means that there is less time and less activity being delivered.

That's why I want to recognise today Julie 'Chook' Larson, Terry, Emily and the team at Running Wild for the amazing work that they do. Running Wild goes to exceptional lengths to make sure that those who are most disengaged have an opportunity to connect and to be pulled in through supported employment to give them a chance at real and long-term engagement in the real economy. Chook has been doing this for many groups for many years, and she understands, on Russell Island, the unique challenges right across the Southern Moreton Bay Islands for many of these young people. In particular, some struggling with mental health challenges or other disabilities couldn't be further away from the supports that you and I take for granted. So it's Chook Larson and her team, operating from a suburban location.

Tragically, after a complaint that they're operating a nonprofit in a residential area—on an island where there simply is no suitably zoned location for their work—they're facing potentially thousands of dollars of council fees as remedy. Of course, we're hoping that Redland City Council can find a way through. That's only to find that Running Wild are now struggling to get the ongoing funding that they need to do their great work. We just seem to assume here that goodhearted people are going to run nonprofits in some of the most isolated parts of Australia on the smell of an oily rag, in the hope that the next grant will turn up.

That's why I'm delighted that the federal government last week, through the Department of Social Services, committed to nearly half a million dollars that basically backs Running Wild as doing the job we need to connect the most disconnected people on the Moreton Bay islands to employment opportunities. And I love the way they're doing it. They're basically forming cadetships in two teams of six and arranging conservation-like activities, ranging from setting up tackle bins in fishing locations to cleaning up foreshores. My great vision is that one day people can, through active transport, travel along boardwalks all across my electorate, including the islands. These could also potentially be constructed in the future, but for now it's the cadetships idea for employment.

I do want to mention today that Running Wild is part of a larger network of high-quality providers thinking hard about how we in Queensland deal with the high number of youth justice challenges that are not even seen in other states. I've said before—the member for La Trobe will know this—that there is three times the level of vehicle related crime in Queensland compared to the average for the mainland states. We have unique crime challenges, and part of that is in the southern Brisbane area, the Caboolture area and of course Townsville. These isolated tragedies are something we can only fix right back at Children's Court level, engaging youth as early as 10 to 12 years of age, before they get on the drug journey—diverted into a resume of crime before they can even develop a resume of capability. It's groups like IntoWork that are doing great work in this space, and yourtown, BUSY At Work, Workways, Cape York Employment right up in North Queensland, Worklinks, Hope Centre, Skill360 and Mylestones Employment. They're serving all parts of this state, and it is my dream that we form a network of Commonwealth support, taking youth aged 15 to 19 into genuine and real employment.

Now, you don't do it overnight, and we can turn to Minister Leanne Linard and her youth justice state department, who have done good work. From assessing the Transition to Success program, it's had good results, albeit in small numbers. But what we know from that review is that this is not a fast process. We've got to be prepared to invest in the long term. It does mean fully understanding these candidates' backgrounds and family income methods; identifying what's good in their life, what their positive influences are, what they need to change; identifying what they're doing right and wrong; and looking at living skills even before work skills. Then it's encouragement and building confidence, and tailor-making opportunities for them in the real employment world, on the ground, and their being able to relate to and be supported by other employees—because many have never had that in their upbringing. It's a challenging area. Chook Larson is doing it for the bay islands in my electorate, and I commend Running Wild for the great work that they're doing and the near half a million dollars of federal government support to deliver it.