GO Foundation

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (15:20): My question is to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs: will the minister inform the council about the GO Foundation event that he attended last night for the foundation's Adelaide Class of 2024 celebration?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:21): I thank the honourable member for his question and his interest in this area. It was an absolute honour to attend the GO Foundation's event for the Adelaide graduating class of 2024 last night during our dinner break. It was a welcome relief to spend a bit over an hour across the road at the Playford on North Terrace to attend the first part of the proceedings for the GO Foundation's annual event before returning to parliament. The GO Foundation was founded by AFL legends Adam Goodes and Michael O'Loughlin, with their long-time friend James Gallichan.

Adam Goodes of course is a Narungga Adnyamathanha man who has strong connections to South Australia, and Michael O'Loughlin is a Narungga man with strong connections to South Australia and the Narungga community and Point Pearce. Both have been legends of the Sydney Football Club. I note that Michael O'Loughlin is now a board member of the Sydney Football Club. Their vision for the foundation they have set up, the GO Foundation (G for Goodes and O for O'Loughlin) is to increase the culturally-responsive access to education for Aboriginal students.

The GO Foundation has grown into an Aboriginal-led and governed organisation that puts culture at the hearts of achieving better outcomes for young people. The GO Foundation is this year celebrating its 15^th year of existence. Over that time I understand the foundation has provided more than 1,290 scholarships for Aboriginal primary, secondary and tertiary students in Sydney, Adelaide and Canberra.

The foundation's class of 2024 celebration last night was a particularly special occasion as it was the first standalone graduation of an Adelaide cohort through the GO Foundation, celebrating and recognising just over, I understand, 33 of the Aboriginal GO scholarship recipients who graduated from both high school and universities in 2024. This is a significant milestone for the GO Foundation since launching this program in Adelaide in just 2019.

Graduating from year 12 or university is always a significant achievement for any young person. However, this is particularly true for Aboriginal people who very regularly do not have the same access to education as non-Aboriginal people do. While the GO Foundation is founded by two legends of AFL—and there is no doubting the unique and special flare Aboriginal people bring to sporting codes—an Aboriginal person's place is not just on the sports field but equally as a doctor, a lawyer, a health worker, CEO of an organisation or a member of parliament.

I look forward to seeing what these young people do next. I would particularly like to acknowledge and pay tribute to the CEO of the GO Foundation, Ms Charlene Davison, and the chair of the foundation, Ms Sonja Stewart, for all the work they do, but more particularly I pay tribute to Adam and Michael for the work they do. These two people have reached the height of football in Australia in the AFL playing for the Sydney Swans and do what not a lot of other people do and give back in a very significant way, putting their own time and money towards seeing that Aboriginal kids in South Australia and across Australia, in Canberra and Sydney, succeed. Michael O'Loughlin is one of the most generous people I know, and Adam Goodes is possibly the best human I have ever met.