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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-05-15 Daily Xml
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Young Achiever Awards

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:31): My question is directly related to the Minister for Human Services. As a minister who is passionate about youth development and youth affairs, can the minister inform the chamber about the Channel 9 Young Achiever Awards?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (15:31): I thank the honourable member for her question. Yes, I am delighted to provide some information about the winners of the series of Channel 9 Young Achiever Awards, which was held last Friday night at the Hilton Hotel.

On behalf of the new government, the member for Adelaide was there to represent the Premier. As well as myself, there was also the member for Chaffey, the Hon. Tim Whetstone, and the member for Unley, the Hon. David Pisoni, who was a previous awardee some time ago, I understand, of an award in this range. The member for Chaffey was there to support a number of participants who were from his Riverland electorate.

There are probably about a dozen categories that are awarded to young people. I think it is fair to say that we were all in awe of the work that these young people have been involved in and the significant achievements that they have achieved at such a young age. There are a number of categories, for those who are not familiar with the awards, that cover the arts, environment, community, STEM and so forth.

From the successful winners, I would like to raise a few highlights. From my own Department of Human Services, the Aboriginal achievement award was presented to Christine Glenn, who is the founder of—someone will correct me if I pronounce this incorrectly—the Kaleteeya Netball Club in our northern suburbs. She manages several teams and 200 members. She has also been the co-creator of the SA Aboriginal Junior Football Carnival. In 2016, she won the Australia Post One Netball Community Award, and she is clearly doing an amazing job in her community as well as being a mum to two small children.

There were a couple of other awardees, too. I was fortunate to be situated in the room right next to my DHS table, and I was able to meet all of the people who were working in my department, including two of the people who are on the panel. They said to me that they had a great deal of difficulty choosing between the awardees and so our congratulations go to all of those in relation to that particular award.

The Multicultural Youth South Australia Spirit of Resilience Award was awarded to Mimona Abdalla, a young lady whom I met last year who was participating in the YMCA Youth Parliament. Mimona is from Salisbury East. She migrated to Australia at a young age and founded Women of MYSA (Multicultural Youth SA) and co-organised last year's Miss Africa event. She participates in the Salisbury Youth Council and is currently studying health and medical science. She has been back to Sudan establishing English classes and wishes to practice medicine there soon. Clearly, we wish her all the best.

Sarah Hammond of Echunga has founded Kids Arthritis, Australia's first organisation dedicated to juvenile arthritis. Emily Rawlings of Whyalla has organised a range of community clean-ups and VANJAM—I assume the Hon. Tammy Franks would understand that sort of language—where local musicians raise funds towards specialised vehicles for local people with disabilities. Kira Bain of Ingle farm, a young Ngarrindjeri woman, is working to revitalise the language of the Adelaide Plains. She teaches Kaurna through a range of schools and supports a number of young at-risk Aboriginals. It is always a problem when you pick out certain winners, but I was not going to name them all for fear of raising the ire of those opposite.

The winner of the Small Business Achiever Award is Jordan Gruber, the founder of Frontier Microscopy, which uses robotics and artificial intelligence to manage asbestos issues. I am advised that this software saves lives during demolition activities. He left a role in the defence industry to pitch his idea to 30 investors and founded Frontier Microscopy. He has managed to raise $400,000 in grants and investments and employs three engineers. He was the overall winner of the South Australian Young Achiever of the Year. We wish them all well.

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