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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-10-19 Daily Xml
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OPERATION FLINDERS FOUNDATION

Adjourned debate on motion of Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins:

That this council—

1. Congratulates the Operation Flinders Foundation on its 20th anniversary and success in providing support and opportunities to young men and women who have been identified as being at risk;

2. Acknowledges the terrific work done to develop the personal attitudes, values, self-esteem and motivation of Operation Flinders participants through espousing the virtues of teamwork and responsibility so they may grow as valued members of the community; and

3. Pays tribute to staff, volunteers, board members and ambassadors of the organisation, past and present, who dedicate time, skills and resources into empowering youth through this worthy organisation.

(Continued from 28 September 2011.)

The Hon. A. BRESSINGTON (21:31): I rise to indicate my support for the motion moved by the Hon. John Dawkins celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Operation Flinders Foundation. Members would be very much aware that I support any and all organisations and foundations that attempt to work with our youth who are at risk and try to show them a new way of living, a new hope in life, a new vision for their life through building self-esteem and self-confidence. I know that Operation Flinders achieves these outcomes for the youth who attend their camps.

We do far too little in this state for our troubled youth, and for that we will pay the price in many years to come. Operation Flinders has assisted 5,000 youths who have been identified to be at risk—5,000 over a period of time is a great achievement indeed—and its success story really does speak for itself. Evaluations have continually demonstrated the positive outcomes of young people, with the 2001 evaluation finding that the program was leading the world at the time.

Operation Flinders' work with young offenders and those at risk of offending resulted in the program winning the Australian Crime and Violence Prevention Award in 2008. The thing I absolutely love about Operation Flinders, after earlier this year attending a function hosted by the Hon. John Dawkins and the member for Ashford (Hon. Steph Key)—for which I thank them both—is that this particular program does not rest on its laurels. It continues to strive for best practice, and it continues to strive to improve the outcomes for these children.

As I said earlier, we simply do not do enough in recognition of the struggles that our youth of today faces. They are the most targeted generation of young people, I believe, that has come through over decades. This generation of youth is continually faced with the challenges of broken homes, drug abuse, sexual assault and coming from low socioeconomic families where generational welfare is an issue for them. They have very limited access or entry into education, or very little interest in remaining in the education system because of their background or the fact that they have strayed off the path, and we do very little to try to bring these kids back on track.

When I say 'very little', I mean very little that actually works with our kids. Operation Flinders takes them to the outback and shows them that there is something different from the cement pavements, shopping centres and skate parks of the city. It gets them back in touch with nature, with Australia's heritage, and with our Indigenous culture, and it actually challenges them to walk a 100-kilometre hike with a backpack. Regardless of whether they want to give up or not, they have to keep going. When they do, they feel like they have achieved something and they have tested themselves, and they come out of that with just that little bit more self-esteem and character. The greatest gift that we can give to our children is that sense of achievement.

All through our days now we hear about strategies that basically wrap our kids up in cottonwool. We modify playgrounds because we do not want them to fall over and chip their knee or we do not want them climbing trees. We do not want little boys playing little boys' games at school anymore. My son, at nine, is going to a school where their activity is so limited these days that boys simply are not allowed to be boys and girls have no interest in the playground anymore. I think this is such a shame, and we are doing our kids such a disservice by not just allowing them the time to play and to be.

Operation Flinders is probably the next stage in their development that they should have been getting at school—that adventurous sense of freedom that we use to experience at school. You would go off in your lunchtime and play and, as long as you did not really harm somebody, you would go and have some fun and have a rough-and-tumble. We all survived, but these days our kids are not allowed to do that.

As I have said before in this place, parents are overprotective of their children because it is an unsafe community now. These kids are faced with this every single day of their life, and that is what I mean when I say that this is the most targeted generation of children, I believe, that we have seen in many decades.

Operation Flinders offers them that necessary opportunity to challenge themselves, to rough-and-tumble, to tough it out and to survive and to build that self-esteem. I cannot speak highly enough of this program. I was offered an invitation to go up there earlier this year, but unfortunately it was the day before my birthday so I had a family do to go to. I do hope that, in the very near future, I will take up the opportunity, but I will only go in warm weather, as I made very clear.

I think that these sorts of programs should be expanded. I think that every member of parliament should get behind this particular program and make a small donation to make their job easier and perhaps even allow for an extra five kids a year or a session to be able to go and experience this because these kids come back with this in their memory forever.

It is like what I have said about substance abuse and recovery; that is, when an addict gets three, four or five months of good recovery under their belt, they never forget it. They may not keep with that recovery. They may not be able to sustain it for the first or second time around, but they never forget the feeling of freedom and release that they get. I believe it is the same with these kids who are trapped in an unhealthy, unproductive focus on life.

I commend Operation Flinders. I commend the Hon. John Dawkins for bringing to our attention that it is their 20th anniversary and I truly wish them another 20 years or more of delivering this program with the successes that it achieves.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (21:38): I rise to make some remarks in support of this motion and, given the hour, I promise to be brief. I congratulate the mover of this motion and, indeed, Operation Flinders and all the people who are associated with it—the board, John Shepherd (their CEO), all the staff and volunteers of which there are many who have worked so assiduously over many years to ensure that the program survived.

There have been funding issues. There have been issues with the property that they have had access to in order to run the program where one has been available and then circumstances have changed so they have had to search for a new property. They have had their trials from time to time in terms of being able to provide the service, but I think their commitment to it and to the youth of South Australia is to be commended.

The service, as we have heard from a previous speaker, is provided to at-risk young people, and quite a number have gone through the program, including some who have graduated on to become staff and broken that chain of being at risk. Operation Flinders has been a little bit misunderstood at times: some people at one stage were viewing it as some sort of boot camp of tough love, whereas in fact the activities are very specifically designed to build self-esteem and team work and for those young people who participate to reach the end of the program, having achieved things that they had not thought possible, and engaged in outdoor activities that they may never have engaged in before. There is also an Indigenous focus for some of the Indigenous participants to reconnect with their culture.

It is several years since I attended. My roommate at the time was the Hon. Kate Reynolds, who is no longer a member of this chamber and, yes, it was cold at the time of year that we attended.

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins: My wife and I were there as well.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: Indeed, the honourable mover and his lovely wife were there as well, and I think that they had had a lot of washouts and that there had been a considerable amount of rain, so it is not for the fainthearted.

I was certainly impressed with the volunteers who attended: they came from all parts of the state. There was a chap who was an ambulance officer from the Riverland, and there were members of the armed services and doctors and they would muck in and do whatever needed to be done, whether it was fixing telecommunications equipment, building or mending things or fixing flat tyres, and a number of them would return year after year because it is obviously something they believe in very strongly. They actually had a really good time mucking about in the bush as well.

With those brief remarks, I hope that Operation Flinders continues to have a very strong future and continues for future generations of young people. I commend the motion to the house.

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS (21:42): I rise today to indicate the government's support for this important motion and echo its sentiments. The Operation Flinders Foundation works with young offenders and other at-risk youth between the ages of 14 and 18 years. As its 20th anniversary approaches, what better time to recognise its achievements? The teenage years are an important time in the life of all people, and all groups who work with young people, particularly the marginalised, deserve our recognition and commendation.

The Operation Flinders Foundation offers a rare opportunity for participants who all too often have so few. Through a 100-kilometre trek through some of South Australia's most stunning countryside, the experience aims to develop key skills and attributes. Self-esteem, team work, responsibility, motivation and leadership, these skills are brought to the fore in the outback and reinforce the ability of individuals to survive and thrive in the toughest of circumstances.

In the outback, there is no opportunity to opt out. Throughout its history, the organisation has been honoured by awards and assessments that point to the outstanding results that Operation Flinders has achieved. In 2008, the program was winner of the Australian Crime and Violence Prevention Award. This was a national award, one of only six throughout the nation to be recognised by the ACVP award. Additionally, an independent evaluation in 2001 reported that the program at the time was leading the world in its outcomes for people at high risk undergoing transformational change.

The success of Operation Flinders in South Australia has been recognised by a number of different methods. Thousands of young people have participated in the program since its inception in 1991. Evaluations and anecdotal evidence have found that young people who have completed the program are less likely to commit crime. It has also been shown as a very positive influence, encouraging young program participants to remain at school, coupled with a significant improvement to their attitude towards school.

This success is a tribute to the surely hundreds of volunteers who have worked with the organisation throughout its 20-year history. Established by Pamela Murray-White in 1991, during the early years I understand that Ms Murray-White redefined and adjusted the concept of the program to emphasise those elements that seemed to be having the most significant positive effects and to minimise or delete those elements that did not. Sadly, as the Hon. John Dawkins noted in his contribution, Ms Murray-White lost her battle with cancer in Operation Flinders' early days, but it is certain that she would be rightly proud of the growth and achievement of Operation Flinders and the difference it has made in the lives of so many young people.

Today, Operation Flinders has clearly grown to be far bigger than a single individual. The volunteers who drive the organisation are essential to its continued success, and the skills they bring to the experience and pass on to the youths are at the heart of the program. The founder's influence is likely to always permeate through the organisation, but it is truly a tribute to all involved that the organisation has been able to continue and grow for the past 20 years.

Support from the community for Operation Flinders is strong and reflects the fact that South Australians care about their young people and, more importantly, accept responsibility for them. They are prepared to assist them to participate in the Operation Flinders program in order to get troubled, marginalised and at-risk youth back on track.

In conclusion, I would like to acknowledge the contributions of the honourable members who have spoken to his motion. It is important that this parliament recognises the important contribution to South Australia that groups like Operation Flinders make. I would like to congratulate the Operation Flinders Foundation for its achievements over the past 20 years, and thank it for its work. The government supports this motion.

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (21:47): I will be brief in summing up. First, I thank my colleagues the Hon. Ann Bressington, the Hon. Gerry Kandelaars, the Hon. Stephen Wade and the Hon. Michelle Lensink for their contributions to this debate, as well as other members of the chamber who have indicated their support without putting it on the record in this place. I would also like to thank members in another place who have contributed to similar motions in that chamber.

I think the underlying theme of the contributions of most of the members who have contributed—and the great majority of those have actually visited an Operation Flinders exercise—is that they have noted that the participants were actually valuing their achievements. Sadly, that is not something many of them have ever experienced in their life. They have never experienced being able to go to bed at night and thinking I have achieved something positive.' When you go up to an exercise, you see the change in some of the young people from the first couple of rebellious days; you start to see the change in them and their attitude when it dawns on them that there is a real benefit in being able to say 'Gee, I abseiled,' or 'I crossed this creek,' or 'I did these things that I would never have done.' Suddenly you see that sparkle in their eyes and their development.

Of course, quite often what happens is that a week later those rebellious kids do not want to go home. To the foundation's great credit it has developed a system by which, when they do go home, they are mentored. I think the foundation does everything it can to stop them reverting back to their old behaviour—because, of course, when they do go home, they are often under pressure to revert to those activities.

As the Hon. Ms Lensink and others have noted, the turnaround in some of these young people, going from being very unruly to going on to university, to being Rotary exchange students, to taking up some very responsible occupations, is an outstanding one and one the foundation should be very proud of. I look forward to taking a record of this motion in the Legislative Council to Yankaninna for the 20th anniversary celebrations on 5 November. I urge all other members who have not taken the opportunity to go to Yankaninna and have a look at Op Flinders to take that opportunity. The foundation welcomes members of parliament very warmly, and their hospitality is well renowned, as many will testify.

In conclusion, I am proud to be an ambassador for Operation Flinders, and I commend the motion to the chamber.

Motion carried.

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