Australian of the Year Awards

Ms WORTLEY (Torrens) (15:18): I have the honour of representing the Premier on the board of the Australia Day Council of South Australia. Last Thursday I attended the South Australian Australian of the Year Awards presentation. It was fantastic to see the nominees. We sit there and we hear all the great things that these everyday Australians, people who you would walk past in the street, are doing here in South Australia. The work that they are doing has an impact not only here in South Australia but right across Australia and, for some, even wider than that.

I would firstly like to mention Professor Leah Bromfield. Leah is the Australian of the Year award recipient for South Australia for 2025. She has devoted a large part of her life to establishing practical, evidence-based solutions to child abuse and neglect, and this is really very challenging work. She is currently the Director and Chair of Child Protection at the Australian Centre for Child Protection. Leah developed the first evidence-based analysis of child protection frameworks. She has worked in this area now for over two decades and she is leading the development of a new child protection vision for South Australia, exploring unconventional approaches and interrogating assumptions to break the cycle of abuse.

Indigenous advocate and knowledge holder, Charles Jackson OAM, is the 2025 Senior Australian of the Year for South Australia. Charles Jackson's passion has been working with Indigenous Australians for more than 50 years. He is the youngest of 14 children. It is quite a large family, larger than yours, I think, Mr Speaker. Charles was the first Aborigine in Australia to become a JP in 1978. All of his jobs reflect Charles' unwavering commitment to the underserved members of his community. He is a knowledge holder for Flinders Ranges Nation and is working towards Wilpena Pound becoming a World Heritage site. Through his role as an advocate for the Aboriginal and wider community, the 75 year old hopes to create a brighter future for all.

Then we have the 2025 Young Australian of the Year for South Australia, the founder of the South Australian Youth Forum, Amber Brock-Fabel. I think we will be hearing quite a bit more from Amber over the years. Amber founded the South Australian Youth Forum in 2021 and she was only 17 years old at this time. It aims to empower youth aged between 14 and 18 to discuss issues such as climate change, gender equality, period poverty and, importantly, youth loneliness. Amber highlighted youth loneliness as one of the biggest issues facing our youth today.

She has secured partnerships and collaborations with various organisations and was recently represented at the United Nations Summit of the Future, the National Inquiry into Civics Education and the Australian Conference on Youth Health. The youth-led initiative won the Connecting Communities Award at the Young Achiever of the Year Gala in 2024, and Amber herself received the Governor of South Australia's Commendation for Excellence.

Two pharmacists are the 2025 Local Heroes for South Australia. Sobia Hashmi and her husband, Irfan, have transformed health care in remote and rural communities in South Australia. They have established six pharmacies in areas where there were previously none where people were forced to travel long distances for basic medications and care. They have mentored countless intern pharmacists from overseas. Their pharmacy group has won various awards and recognition for its commitment to improving health literacy and access to healthcare services, including a South Australia Multicultural Governor's Award in 2022.

I would like to congratulate all recipients and wish them well in the 2025 Australian of the Year Awards.