PAT ONEILL, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR BRISBANE: Im really pleased to have Penny Wong here to announce some really exciting projects here in Brisbane, looking at supporting the arts and community groups. The arts have a huge impact on our community, they talk about who we are, who we want to be and they help us share our stories, which brings people together. The work of community groups here in Brisbane is also of vital importance. I think we are all better people when we talk to each other, when we can share our stories and that has an impact, not just on communities, but also on things like the heath of the economy. So I am really pleased to have Penny Wong here to make some announcements about the arts and community here in Brisbane.
SENATOR PENNY WONG, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN THE SENATE: Its fantastic to be here with Pat who is such a great candidate for this seat. A seat that is important for Labor, but important as one of the capital city seats, important for the country. He has been a fantastic candidate and I look forward to welcoming him to Canberra. I am here today to continue Labors announcements in this campaign to support the arts. As you might know, George Brandis, when he was Arts Minister took money off of the Australia Council, put it in another fund called Catalyst, a fund which saw very few funds come to Queensland.
Mark Dreyfus has announced Labors arts policy, additional funding to the Australia Council as well as for example, to the ABC. But today we are talking about the grassroots level, today we are talking about local community and the importance of work in our local community and there are two announcements that I am making today. The first is an $800,000 grant to secure this space, this space as a co-working space for local community groups, local artists. That funding will fund a turnkey fit out and will fund a period time for a lease, of which time we hope we can generate revenue for the long term, and Isaac from Little Tokyo can talk about that shortly.
In addition, I wanted to make another announcement that Pat has been championing and that is an announcement for Spur Projects. We know that suicide is the leading cause of death for men between 14 and 44. We also know what mental health experts tell us, what advocates tell us, that we need to focus much more on prevention and we need to focus on tapping into those lines of communication to that cohort.
Spur Projects is an organisation that does that, that focuses on men in that cohort, focuses on prevention, uses different digital projects to reach this group, because they are a group that is in need of greater support, of greater government funding and resources. So today, I am also announcing $500,000 to Spur. We hope we can work together at a grassroots level to tackle mental health and other issues which are unfortunately far too prevalent and particularly with a focus as I said on men in that age group. So Id like to turn to you first, you can talk about your great work and then perhaps we can turn to Isaac for discussion about this project.
LEE CROCKFORD, SPUR PROJECTS: Thank you so much Pat ONeill and Penny Wong. To be honest with you, I am actually a little disappointed that we are here today, in fact I am disappointed that we have to be here due to the fact that today in Australia, six Aussie men will suicide. Another six Aussie men will suicide tomorrow, another six the day after that and every single day this year. We live in a country where too many men reach a point in their lives where they believe it is a better option for them to take their own lives than it is to talk about how they are feeling.
We live in a country where 80 per cent of all suicides are men and as Senator Wong mentioned, the large proportion of deaths for men between the ages of 14 and 44 is suicide. And the seat in which Pat, Isaac and myself reside has seen one of the biggest increases of suicide over the last four years. But thats why Spur Projects exists, we exist to make it an easier option for men to take positive action, than to suicide. We know that by giving men the language, the skills and the resources they need at a time in their life when they are feeling healthy and well, that when those tough times do come along and they will come for each and every single one of us, that they feel empowered to take action and to talk about how they are feeling. So we are incredibly grateful to Pat ONeill and to Penny Wong for supporting us. We are incredibly grateful that they appreciate the challenge that suicide presents for this country, not only economically, but more importantly, socially. And we are incredibly grateful that they share our vision of creating an Australia with zero suicides. So thank you.
ISAAC HOLMYARD, LITTLE TOKYO TWO: Thank you very much to Pat ONeill and to Penny Wong for inviting me here today. I wanted to talk very briefly about Little Tokyo Two. We are very excited to announce a space like this and the potential of opening a space like this here in Brisbane - a space that is dedicated to the creative industries, the entrepreneurial industries and small business. At Little Tokyo Two we appreciate and value any efforts made by government that are in support of these industries. We see this announcement as an opportunity to further develop the space that we already have in Brisbane. As a community that strives to encourage people to step out on their own with the tools, the resources, the knowledge to do so successfully. Through diversity in our venues, through our members, through our small businesses that make up Little Tokyo Two, we are hoping to create a unique ecosystem here in Brisbane t hat is supportive, that is encouraging small business owners, grassroots business, family businesses to step out and to actually go out on their own. We are very grateful for Pat ONeill for having enough faith in Little Tokyo Two and in our vision, to pretty much task us with this project and we look forward to it with great anticipation. The project itself will take place in this building, which actually looks quite horrible right now.
WONG: Its going to look great.
HOLMYARD: With an $800,000 fit out that is going to look phenomenal. As Penny Wong said earlier, that is then going to go into providing us a time where the rent will be paid. So hopefully within six months we can make a profitable revenue through events, through supporting the young business community, that this building, like all of our other buildings in Brisbane will be self-sustainable. So thank you very much for trusting us with this task and we look forward to it with great anticipation.
WONG: Thanks very much for that. So a couple of very important grassroots announcements, championed and I said by Pat who really has such a strong grasp of the importance of government working with community, working with organisations like the two you have seen today. Making a difference to peoples lives, making a difference to people are in trouble, but also, making a difference to bringing people together so that we can have a greater focus on our creative industries and more collaboration. Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: They are both quite sizable grants, how were the two groups chosen to be recipients of half a million dollars and close to a million.
WONG: To be honest, this is really about Pat ONeills advocacy. These are projects which he has been a champion of. The Labor Party says to our candidates like Pat, you show us things that will work in your community, you work with your community and we are prepared to look at making these sorts of commitments where we can see that there is real benefit. Both of these organisations have a track record, seeing the work that Spur has done, we have seen the work that Little Tokyo has done and can do and these are the ways in which the government can really make a difference.
The funding of space like this, governments might not be able to fix everything, but what government can do, apart from things like fund things like schools properly, is make sure that you dont have $100,000 degrees and protect Medicare, which is what Labor will do. What government can do is also facilitate, facilitate and encourage, and create the space for people who are creative and entrepreneurial and dynamic to work together and to generate opportunities and thats really what todays announcement is about.
JOURNALIST: And if Labor is elected to Government, would Labor fund these projects regardless of who wins the seat of Brisbane?
WONG: Yes, this is a commitment for a Labor Government.
JOURNALIST: Mr ONeill can I ask for your thoughts on why you advocated for these two businesses?
ONEILL: Absolutely, so within Brisbane there are a lot of groups that do a lot of amazing work, but particularly with Little Tokyo Two and Spur Projects. They have been there and showed a track record of working in the community, in creating capacity for local businesses and local entrepreneurs and I would encourage everyone to take a look at what Little Tokyo Two has already done with space in Spring Hill, down in Springfield and also up on Petrie Terrace. Spur projects has a fantastic website which outlines all the work that they have done. One of my favourites, is they did a thing called the Blue Letterbox Project, where they provided paint and information to people from rural backgrounds to paint their letterbox blue, to show that you might live in the country away from services, but there is support out there. Both of these organisations have shown a track record of enabling people, engaging the community and I think thats what politics can do. Its not about the politicians, its about how we can support and be an advocate for groups like these.
JOURNALIST: Just in regards, this morning, your opponent in Brisbane Trevor Evans argues that you are politicising Orlando and by linking it to the plebiscite coming up, well potentially coming up depending on the outcome of the election, do you have any response or thoughts in regards to his accusation said there?
ONEILL: Well, one of the reasons why I am pleased that we are able to support Spur Projects, is that in 2016, we live in a country where one in three of our LGBTI youth self-harm. Where LGBTI Australians are six times more likely to attempt or commit suicide. There is a huge amount of heartache, loss of life and effect on families and communities through actions where we dont bring people together. And what projects like this do, community groups and groups like Spur projects, is bring people together. I think thats the jobs of politicians, is to do everything that they possibly can to say that we are all Australians, were in this together, we are all equally deserving of protection by the government. Thats why I am so pleased to be here today to support groups like Little Tokyo Two and Spur Projects.
JOURNALIST: Is it appropriate to draw the inference between the plebiscite and what was quite a horrific event over in America?
ONEILL: Right now there are people who are losing their lives, there are young children who are watching TV and seeing people talk about the fact that they are not entitled to equal protection under the law of the country that they were born in. What the Labor Party wants to do, what we all want to do as a society is make sure that everyone knows that they are valued, that they have equal worth. And thats what we are doing today and thats why I am so pleased to be able to talk about these community groups, but thats what they are working to do, to ensure that everyone has a voice.
WONG: Can I just make a comment about - last night, I attended a vigil just shortly after I landed here in Brisbane and I want to first say to the Pride organisations and others who spoke, that it was incredibly moving and incredibly heart-warming, although very, very sad.
Obviously its tragic, we grieve not only for those who are lost, we grieve for those who are grieving, we feel, people feel dreadfully sad about these events. But what was heart-warming about that vigil and has been heart-warming is the sense of solidarity of standing with the LGBTIQ community and standing in support of the values we share. And those values always put love first, tolerance, respect, acceptance first and those values and those principals will always overcome hate.
If there is nothing further, thank you.
ENDS