Rex Patrick (SA, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak about a great South Australian initiative related to troubled youth. Three weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to travel to Leigh Creek and Yankaninna to take part in Operation Flinders, a remote outback adventure program for at-risk 14-to-18-year-olds. While the name sounds like an operation that I might have participated in during my Navy days, this is a civilian program, but it does take many elements from defence training. The program was founded in 1991 by Pamela Murray-White, who is sadly no longer with us. Pam was a teacher and a former Army officer. After completing her Army service, she returned to her teaching duties at Beafield Campus, where she dealt with students with behavioural problems. It was here that she realised that there were some outdoor elements of Army life and culture that could have some positive effects on some of her students. Pam reached out to the Defence Force and some of their personnel to set up a program for these young people, with the Army providing personnel, stores and logistic support, without which the program would not have been able to function.

She conducted one exercise in 1991 with a modest 35 student participants. By 1993 she was conducting three exercises with a total of 99 participants. Over the next two years, young people sourced from the South Australian education system took part in Pam's program, with a number of staff from the education department joining Defence Force personnel to provide voluntary support. The South Australia Police were also quick to jump on board after seeing the project as a positive initiative to prevent crime. To date, the program has assisted 6,000 young people and now conducts five exercises each year in the northern Flinders Ranges. Small teams of students are inserted into the remote bush to trek about 100 kilometres over an eight-day period. It's an intensely physical, emotional and psychological challenge, but it's one that Operation Flinders says gives participants the chance to expand their view of the world to a point where they see other people virtually for the first time and they realise the world has far more to offer than they had ever thought.

Once the program commences the students are expected to complete it. There is no opportunity to opt out, as they might when faced with challenges in their daily life. During the program, the team walks in a predetermined route around the property to finish in the vicinity of where they first started. The distance of daily walks varies, generally between 10 and 15 kilometres per day. The young students are also required to take charge and be responsible for campsite cleanliness, cooking the meals, building the fire and other duties required to maintain the camp area. Other activities include daily cross-country hikes, abseiling, team building activities, bush survival skills, navigation and first aid skills, and an understanding of Aboriginal culture and the history of the Flinders Ranges.

Over the eight-day period, students tend to go through four phases. First, there is the storming period where the participants complain about the physical aspects of the camp and object to the discipline. Some of them drop to the ground and refuse to move on, with an adult team leader staying with them until they work out that they don't actually get to eat until they make it to base camp. Then comes the morning phase where the students come to terms with the situation they find themselves in. They're still not happy, but they accept the situation. The third phase is performing, where they start to work well as a team and, with high spirits, they start to enjoy the experience. The final stage is mourning where they regret that things are coming to an end.

During my weekend in the Flinders Ranges, I met some of the student participants and it was great to hear their stories. I chatted with a young lad who took me aside and showed me how he'd set up his hutchie—the science of how to set it up so a snake wouldn't end up in it, the wind wouldn't blow in the wrong direction at night-time and he could manage the rain, which rarely happens up there. The young man was very, very proud of the knowledge that he'd taken on board over the last three or four days and was happy to repeat it as though it was his own and as though he was the world's expert in that particular field.

I also spoke to a student who was part of a family of 10. He had been sent out to participate in the program. On this particular day he was the team leader. He told me of his experience. He said to me, 'Senator Patrick, when I first started this morning as a leader for my first time I just shouted at everyone, but I realised that didn't work.' With a bit of coaching from the adult team leaders he managed to learn how to be a leader throughout the day. There are fantastic stories from young people who would otherwise be troubled.

I was also lucky enough to try out some of the other activities, including abseiling. Whilst I was there, there were 101 students in the field in 11 teams. They were spread out over Operation Flinders' 563-square-kilometre remote property. It is a really remote property. It's funny, there were 11 teams out there and not once did they cross each other's paths, which was very interesting.

Twenty-six per cent of Operation Flinders' funding comes from the South Australian state government. I'm happy and pleased to state that Premier Marshall is a great supporter of the program. About 20 per cent comes from the corporate sector and another 20 per cent comes from service clubs and local councils, with the rest coming from philanthropy and fundraising events. Perhaps there is a role the Commonwealth could play in this. It's a proven intervention to keep youth at risk out of the justice system, so perhaps it has an application in other states. I'm happy to take queries from any other senators who might wish to understand this program and perhaps see that it comes to their own state as well. I implore the federal government to take a closer look at this life-changing program.