OPERATION FLINDERS

Ms SANDERSON (Adelaide) (16:15): Last weekend I had the pleasure of going to Operation Flinders and staying at Yankaninna Station and being hosted by John and Jan Shepherd. It was a wonderful experience and, although it was slightly terrifying, I did enjoy the abseiling and still have sore ribs to prove it.

Operation Flinders is such a wonderful program. It is a charitable organisation that runs a world-leading wilderness adventure program for young offenders and young people at risk. The program takes participants between the ages of 14 and 18 on an eight-day exercise in the Far North Flinders Ranges, providing an opportunity for its participants to break away from their past and grow as valued members of the community. The foundation offers a unique program that presents its participants with a new direction in life.

Teams trek 100 kilometres through the spectacular Flinders Ranges with the aim to develop personal attitudes of self-esteem, leadership, motivation, team work and responsibility. They learn basic bush survival skills, are taught to abseil, discover Indigenous culture and learn of the rich history of the Flinders Ranges. Unlike other aspects of their lives, there is not an opportunity for the participants to opt out.

I was fortunate enough to have heard about this program a couple of years ago and sought to put together my own Prospect chapter. I was very lucky to have the sponsorship and donations from The Lions Club of Prospect Blair Athol, which donated $7,500. The Rotary Club of Prospect and the Prospect Kiwanis also donated money. There were also 130 people who attended a community quiz night that I organised which showed how much my community values this type of program which really helps youth through difficult times in their life and hopefully provides them with a different alternative than the one that they are on.

We raised $15,000 to set up a Prospect chapter, and I asked that five students be chosen from Roma Mitchell Secondary College, which is one of my zoned schools and Adelaide High School, the other zoned school, of which I am also on the governing council. Fortunately, the weekend I was there was the weekend that my team was there. Unfortunately, I did not get to meet them because it would have been several hours' drive in a different direction from where we were as the property is around 260 square kilometres.

I did meet up with three different groups of teenagers who were there—I believe there were nine groups at the time—and I hope to catch up with the team that I helped sponsor when they have their reunion in a few weeks when I will get to meet the students. It is such a wonderful program and really positive program that I would encourage other members of parliament to set up their own chapters and help their local community, because I think if we all did, we would be helping a lot of our youth.

From what I have heard of our adult prisons, 70 per cent of the adult prisoners came through the juvenile justice system. We can support groups like Operation Flinders that are endeavouring to give young offenders and children at risk another alternative—a different way of looking at life—and some self-esteem and goals. They will also realise that they cannot quit—they must keep going—and that the team leaders and the groups that are there to support them will not give up on them.

For every group there are usually between eight and 10 teenagers, and there are usually two counsellors from the school or the group that they come from, as well as a team leader and an assistant team leader. So, there are usually four adults with any group.

Groups come from different areas. There are behavioural learning centres that often send along a group. There are school teams, so schools can apply. Families SA also sends groups, as well as the community justice teams and, as I mentioned, there are chapter teams, so different community groups can get together and fundraise the $15,000 which will allow 10 students to go along.

They are very lucky to have patrons such as Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce, vice patron Sir Eric Neal, Meg Lees and, of course, John Shepherd, who runs the operation and does a lot of work. So, they have some wonderful people involved. I would like to acknowledge the hard work of the Operation Flinders team, the importance of their work and thank all of the people who donated money towards the Prospect chapter. It was a wonderful experience. I am glad to have been there to see it for myself and I would encourage other members to do the same, to go there and see what it is like and to, hopefully, start your own chapter.