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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-10-18 Daily Xml
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Charities

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (15:48): In Australia, we are incredibly fortunate, and we truly live in a lucky country, but no matter how lucky we are, some members of our community still suffer great personal tragedy and hardship. One of the most extraordinary things about our community is how people go through such loss and struggle and can still become some of our community's greatest advocates and change makers, working tirelessly to prevent others from experiencing the pain they have endured. They are indeed an inspiration to us all.

The efforts of these advocates stretch across many pressing issues in our society. From domestic violence to cancer prevention, thousands of lives are touched each year by those who work to make our communities better places. In many cases, this work saves lives and changes communities. It is impossible to calculate the effects of this vital work or list all of the wonderful Australians and South Australians who undertake it. There are just a few of these people and organisations that I would like to take an opportunity to highlight and thank today.

One example that has been in the media recently is the wonderful work by the Love Your Sister organisation. Its founder Connie Johnson AO tragically passed away recently from her struggle with breast cancer. Her co-founder, her brother Samuel Johnson, has promised to continue to fight cancer in her memory. Before Connie passed away, she inspired a community of thousands and raised vital awareness amongst the community on how to check for breast cancer in its early stages and also highlight the risk to younger as well as older women.

Love Your Sister has raised over $7 million to reduce the incidence of cancer. It has done this using warmth, humour, heartbreaking honesty and inspiration and hope. This work shows how one family's unimaginable tragedy has touched hundreds of thousands of Australians. I am sure the work Love Your Sister does has and will save lives. I cannot applaud the efforts of the Love Your Sister village enough or fully express my sympathy for the loss of such a wonderful woman.

Another charity that does vital work to help women in need is the Zahra Foundation. Zahra Abrahimzadeh, members will recall, was viciously murdered by her estranged husband in front of hundreds of witnesses at a 2010 community event. In 2015, her three children, Atena, Anita and Arman, worked with domestic violence services to establish the Zahra Foundation in their mother's memory.

The Zahra Foundation works to assist South Australian women and children to safely and successfully leave domestic violence; to help victims of domestic violence establish economic independence through specialised financial counselling and financial literacy programs; and to provide small grants for women and the children to cover education costs and costs associated with gaining or maintaining employment.

Many women who leave domestic violence situations suffer financial consequences, and sometimes these consequences drive them back to their abusers or can mean that they never leave in the first place. The Zahra Foundation provides a vital pathway for these women to help escape domestic violence and their work cannot be underestimated.

In 2008, Nat Cook, the member for Fisher, and her partner, Neil Davis, established the Sammy D Foundation after the tragic death of their son Sam from an unprovoked one-punch attack. The Sammy D Foundation works with young people to prevent violence and promote wise decision-making in public and private places. Their work educates young people in South Australia on drug and alcohol related youth violence, providing vital support to young people and their parents.

Young people are guided on how to have fun whilst remaining safe, what to do in emergency situations at parties, for instance, and taught the consequences of violence. The Sammy D Foundation also provides a specialised mentoring service to vulnerable young people.

The impact of the foundation touches many communities and does a great honour to the memory of Sammy Davis, who died way before his time and who has left a lasting legacy in South Australia.

This work and the work of many other groups which I don't have time to speak to today saves lives and positively impacts on our community at every level. I would like to applaud the work done by those who have survived tragedy themselves, taking something which must have been just life shattering and really terrible for them and ensuring that some good has come out of that.

This is something that we all should aspire to. I call on this government and other governments in Australia to continue to work with and support organisations such as these.

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