Just visited the Warrane Mornington Neighbourhood Centre’s community garden to check on the fruit trees that I and various other sponsors have helped to purchase. Pleased to also meet the garden’s friendly co-ordinator Leah and some of the garden’s volunteers.

The community garden is not just a great way to promote healthy eating and provide food security to local residents – it is also helping the prisoners who volunteer here to gain valuable work skills which will assist them in securing employment on release.

When we think about the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia (RFDS), we often think of red dirt and blue skies in the outback.

However, the RFDS has been operating in Tasmania for almost 60 years! And while they make more than 1,200 flights per year between airstrips on King, Flinders and Cape Barren Islands, Queenstown, Wynyard, Burnie, Devonport, Smithton, St Helens, Launceston, Hobart and Melbourne, they also offer a range of ground based services to communities across regional Tasmania.

The beginning of Homelessness Week (4-10 August 2019) is a timely reminder of the Morrison Government’s failure to take real action to help the thousands of Australians on social housing waiting lists, including 3,300 in Tasmania.

That’s over 3,000 Tasmanians who are couchsurfing or sleeping in crisis accommodation, cars, tents or on the street.

Despite the Liberals stating in early July that they would work on the housing and homelessness crisis in Tasmania over “the next six to eight weeks”, they are yet to detail one new initiative.

Many Australians would be familiar with the lyrics to “I Was Only 19” by Australian band Redgum, including the words “Frankie kicked a mine the day that mankind kicked the moon”.

21 July 1969 – or 50 years ago today – was the day the first man walked on the moon. Australian veterans of the Vietnam War remember it as the day two mines exploded in the “light green” zone, killing two Australian soldiers and wounding many others.

One of those men wounded was Dave Sturmer, now a well-renowned artist. I felt privileged to be invited to a commemorative event, organised by the Vietnam Veterans’ Association of Australia, at which some of Dave’s work was exhibited. You can see examples of his work at https://www.davesturmer.com.

Fantastic to talk to Transport Workers Union, Victorian/Tasmanian Branch – TWUVicTas delegates today about the importance of fighting the Government’s attacks on safe rates for transport workers.

Safe rates make the roads safer for everyone and ensure that loved ones return home at the end of their shift. Safe rates save lives!

My opinion piece in today’s The Mercury, The Examiner and The Advocate welcomes the Government’s response to the Senate Select Committee on Stillbirth Research and Education and reiterates Labor’s offer of bipartisanship on delivering the policy.

To this day, my family continues to be deeply affected by our own experience of stillbirth 36 years ago. In some areas, Australia’s approach to supporting affected families in their grief has improved somewhat since then, but it is disappointing that so little progress has been made on reducing the rate of stillbirth.

I had another busy weekend. On Saturday I attended Ben McGregor – Labor for Clark‘s volunteer thank you BBQ and then helped to set up for Edna’s Soup and Sandwich Luncheon – a Kingborough Helping Hands fundraiser. Then home Saturday night to make soup for the luncheon.
On Sunday I had a busy time emceeing that event.
I would like to thank the many volunteers who helped make the Soup and Sandwich Luncheon a success. The funds raised from this event will help provide practical assistance to people in Kingborough who have fallen on hard times.
Thank you also to all the attendees who came out on a cold winters day and gave so generously. Without the donations from you, KHH could not do the amazing work that it does.

On Sunday 3 November 2019, I am again walking to raise funds for Cure Brain Cancer and would appreciate your support.

Walk4BrainCancer Tasmania 2019 is the next of several fundraising events I have organised, which so far have raised more than $160,000 for brain cancer research and advocacy. This amount, I am told, is enough to fund a small clinical trial!

Of course, there is more to be done while the five-year survival rate for brain cancer remains shockingly low (around 20%) and while brain cancer remains the biggest disease killer of Australians aged under 18.

It was very moving to attend the official flag raising at piyura kitina (Risdon Cove) today as part of National NAIDOC Week.

The Indigenous voice of this country is over 65,000 years old. NAIDOC Week is an opportunity for us to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, as well as reflect on the challenges that we face together as a nation.

This year’s theme is “Voice. Treaty. Truth.” – three principles espoused in the Uluru Statement which outlined the vision of First Nations people for the way forward for reconciliation.