Perinatal mental health, brain and speech research, finance, film, theatre and sport

00:16 S1

Peter:

It's just gone 5:00. You're listening to Vision Australia Radio - 1197AM in Adelaide, online at VA Radio [?], Radio Digital in Adelaide and Darwin through the Community Radio app, and also your favourite podcast or streaming service. And a big cheer to our friends listening through 103.9 Hope, Esperance in Western Australia and thanks to Australian Disability Media, all those venues are there for you to enjoy and listen to. Leisure Link. You can find out more about Australian Disability Media, Powerd Media - p o w e r d dot media. Peter Greco saying fabulous to be here. Thank you so much for your company. Great to be along for another show. This program coming to you from Kaurna Land. 

Coming to you very, very shortly: we'll meet Cameron Murray, just been appointed CEO for Paralympics Australia. Also catch up with Casey Andrew, one of the winners in this year's Focus on Ability Film Festival, his film Against the Odds. It says it all, it's an incredible story. You'll enjoy it. I'm sure we'll catch up with Doctor Carey Seeley from No Strings Attached. They've got a few things to finish off their 30th year. Your personal invitation to attend is just moments away on the radio. Professor Matthew Kiernan will join us. Some really interesting research in the area of motor neuron disease. I've never heard about this before, but I think Matthew will really... shed some light on the condition. So I look forward to catching up with Matthew. 

We'll speak to David Mills from carers SA. David's got some interesting news. Some exciting news. Exciting for David. Looks to catch up with Hannah Enright from Talking Matters. They'll be at KydX, which is coming up on Saturday the 30th of November at the Mile End Netball Stadium. Karen Wynter will join us about perinatal mental health. It's an awareness week. Some very important messages and resources there... and Neville Horton will join us, our finance guru, with Finance Facts - Neville will wrap up this year. 

Well, last week on the program, we mentioned the fact that Cameron Murray had just been announced as CEO for Paralympics Australia. This week, Cameron's on the line. Cameron, welcome and congratulations. 

Cameron:

Thanks, Peter. Yeah it's a very proud moment for me. 

Peter:

Opportunity in your career to to lead an organisation such as Paralympics Australia and make a difference in the lives of all our, you know, para athletes and US Paralympians and aspiring para athletes... but more broadly to, you know, play a role in enabling more people with disability just to play sport. Now you're in the acting role for a little while, so I guess a good kind of apprenticeship in quotes. 

Cameron:

Yeah, I've actually been with the organisation for over two years. Previously, I'd been in the role of head of commercial communications and brand, so I'm fortunate that I've been in the business. Yeah, I had a, I think, as we joked, a sort of a three month interview when I was asked to step into the role in interim and deliver the team to Paris... but yeah, obviously genuinely pleased that the board's, you know, seen fit and and placed the trust in me to lead the organisation moving forward. 

Peter

I like that, a three month apprenticeship where you come through with flying colours and indeed the Australian team did so... so is it onwards and upwards from here - you haven't sort of come in at the top and now we kind of plateaued, are you? 

Cameron:

Well, I don't think anything plateaus. It certainly hasn't slowed down since the return from Paris. But look, we went to Paris knowing we were taking the smallest team that we had taken away since, you know, I think 1988, to be honest. But, you know, fortunately the team and those before me had done a lot of work to understand, you know, I guess where we sat from a pathway position and with the generous support from the federal government prior to heading to Paris, you know, they announced this, you know, large injection into supporting sport and Paralympic sport more broadly through the Brisbane 32 plus and para uplift program. 

What that will will mean is significant investment, unprecedented investment into the para pathways and classification programs across the whole ecosystem of sport, designed to create more opportunities and certainly more para athletes that will be able to compete at a Paralympic level in the future. Our team did well, particularly as you mentioned, given the smaller number than in previous years. The coverage was incredible on Channel Nine. And that's a great launching pad. I think in terms of.. our marketing awareness. The whole sort of thing. It was, you know, as I say, it was a great launch pad for the future. Yeah. Look, no doubt. 

I remember when I joined the business, you know, two and a half years ago, Curtis McGrath saying to me, Kim, you know, we can't be what we you can't see. And, you know, that really resonated with me, especially in my previous role. And, you know, we worked really hard to make sure that we're able to tell the stories of our athletes. The partnership with Nine Entertainment was fantastic. They really embraced not just the rights for which they'd been able to achieve, but they they really embraced the opportunity to, you know, embed the story of, of our Paralympians and people with disability right through their business, from their staff up. And, you know, that really resonated. And, you know, to the point where we had, you know, across the broadcast, we had I think we had 20 Paralympians or para athletes that were part of the coverage in a commentary space. 

And then also, you know, we had Paralympians commentating on on Olympic events and vice versa. So huge success, amazing numbers and nine have been an amazing partner. 

Peter:

Yes, we spoke to some of those athletes at the time. And I mean, the word is credibility isn't it? It gives it cred rather than someone talking about it from a distant point of view. You're on the inside. 

Cameron:

Yeah. Look, there's no doubt that that lived experience when, you know, commentating on Paralympic sport is, you know, hugely valuable. And I think we still have a way to go in educating our fans and those that are engaged to, you know, what para sport is and how the classification process actually works. And again, Nine... you know, understood that. And that allowed our Paralympians to, you know, talk to the public and the viewers in a way that that was educational and that was really important to us. Now, I guess that's kind of the good thing. 

Peter:

What about the challenges? 

Cameron:

I mean, funding is always a challenge. There's so much sport available these days for sponsorship, for broadcast, etcetera, etcetera. That's probably good as a as a spectator or good as someone who likes to participate from a spectator's point of view. But on the inside your side of things, it makes it very competitive. There's a lot of hands out, if you like, or there's a lot of grants being written and there's a lot of sponsorship proposals being written, and, you know, it's a limited market. It's... a competitive market, Peter. There's no doubt about that. 

Like, we look, we had a very successful Paris campaign. We had we had 30 partners in Tokyo at a difficult time. We took a family of partners to Paris at about 35. Um, we've seen we've seen a bit of a turn And in that we're now seeing large, you know, multinational companies that want to partner with Paralympic sport because we do offer our partnership with purpose. You know, we are more than just the national sporting team. Whilst at the heart of everything we do, we have a team of high performance athletes and we can't forget that. But we do offer unique benefits through engagement with staff and partners and you know, the stories and the learnings that our athletes bring are very different to to other high performance athletes. So we offer different value. 

But yeah, it's absolutely competitive. You know, we still rely heavily on the very generous grants that we that we receive from both federal and state government. One day we'd like to think that we have, you know, been able to achieve financial sustainability and that, you know, more importantly for me, is critical to the future of our athletes. 

Peter: 

Now, obviously, City of Sydney, I keep thinking, Sydney, I went to Sydney with the with the radio exception that 25 years ago, it still feels like it's Sydney coming up. But of course, with Brisbane coming up, that's the big focus. But there's plenty of stuff between then of course, the the Winter Paralympics not to be forgotten as well. 

Cameron:

Yeah. Look that's something we have to keep reminding everybody. You know I think there's, you know, we're doing a lot of really positive work with the Brisbane 32 Organising Committee already. You know we're certainly working hard to be consultative with regards to ensuring that, you know, any, any venue builds in the future that, you know, a real legacy, that they are universally designed and it creates accessibility for people with a disability that want to play sport in the future is really critical. But yeah, look, it's... a long runway. It's sort of a two stage game now. I think we've got to stay operationally focused and financially focused on being able to deliver our, our, our winter and summer games for our athletes. 

Peter:

You're right. 

Cameron:

We've got... Milano Cortina in 26. We're off to LA in 28. We've got the French Alps in 30. And then we'll finally we'll arrive in Brisbane. So we've got to stay focused on the long game benefits, but also ensure that we, you know, we know what we've got to deliver in the meantime. 

Peter:

One Paralympic at a time, Cameron. Exactly right. What about... you touched on the fact that, you know, one of the aims, if you like, is to get more people across the board involved with Paralympic sport or involved with sport full stop. We actually spoke to Jack O'Callahan back when Brisbane got the Games, and that was one of the kind of promises or that was one of the the objectives of Brisbane. Winning the Games was to get more people with disabilities involved with sport. I mean, that's two of the case, I assume. Question mark. And then how's that going as far as it being rolled out and even being embellished? 

Cameron:

Yeah, I think we're absolutely heading in the right direction. I go back to the fact that federal government, you know, committed $54 million to the Pathways and high performance program for Paralympic sport was significant. You know, there are we I think we've identified overall about 160 different barriers to participation that have given us. You know, I think we've been more focused on data and understanding that. And that's given us a greater opportunity to understand what we need to do. We know that, you know, 1 in 4 people with disability play sport, 3 in 4 want to... you know, access to coaches, access to venues, access to equipment. 

You know, all of those things actually play a role in the, you know, power uplift program that we're working with the ASC, you know, the CSAs, the sports, the NSDs, the whole sport system are leaning in really hard to ensure that, you know, the future success of the Paralympic team and the greater opportunity for people with a disability to play sport. I think we're heading in. Absolutely. Heading in the right direction. The sports are not stats based these days. That's the beauty, isn't it? 1 in 4 play. 3 in 4 want to play - that's incredible. Yeah. And you know, as we know, they not all of those athletes, participants, players will end up competing for Australia. But you know, the benefits, the health benefits, mental health benefits of participation in sport is, you know, as we all know, hugely valuable. And we want to play a role in that.

Peter:

I mean, were you involved with the 2018 and the Gold Coast? 

Cameron:

I guess that's a little bit of a again, a bit of a an apprenticeship or a bit of a dry run for Brisbane, do you think? Yeah. Look, it certainly was the largest and yes, I was, I was the head of commercial and marketing for Gold Coast 2018 as part of the executive committee there. An amazing experience for me, to see the success we had. And, you know, it is a great event because it does have the integrated para program also. But yeah, it was certainly the largest event we'd seen well, in Queensland ever, but certainly in the preceding decade. So yeah, I think the opportunity I've also worked as part of the delivery team for Rugby World Cup in Tokyo. So when you've been part of the major events and you have that understanding, there's no doubt it's certainly of great value. 

Peter:

Well, we spoke to Allison Crowe earlier in the year when Allison was appointed president. With you also in your role now, it sounds like we're in very good hands. We've had the pleasure, as you probably know, Cameron, and speaking to Virtually Paralympian every week on this program for 30 odd years, I'm hoping that's going to continue on. 

Cameron:

I'm sure it will. 

Peter:

You're welcome any time, because obviously to have a direct line through to the CEO, it's a great thing. And I've got to say, whilst you're here, huge thanks to David, Tim and also Jacqueline for their tremendous support of this program, with Tim and David in particular for years and years. It's very much appreciated and I'm very privileged to be able to speak to people like you and our athletes. So thanks for your time and we wish you well. 

Cameron:

Thanks very much, Peter. Happy to talk anytime. And you know, the support that you provide for Paralympics Australia and para athletes is really greatly appreciated. 

Peter:

All the best Cameron. Thank you. Cameron Murray there - just appointed officially out of the acting role into the official full time role for CEO for Paralympics Australia. 

Well, a big day. The International Day for People with Disabilities is coming up. And SBS do a fabulous job with their focus on the Focus on Ability Short Film festival. One of the winners of this year's awards is Casey Andrew - and Casey joins us now. Casey, thanks for your time.

14:28 Casey:

Hi, how are you?

Peter:

I'm very well, and congratulations on your film and congratulations on your award. And if anything was perfectly titled, it's your film.

Casey:

Thank you, thank you, thank you very much for that. Yeah, I was a bit of a shock when I heard the news, but... I'm very grateful for the award. Yeah.

14:47 Peter:

The film's called Against the Odds.

Casey:

Yeah. So my film I made the festival was called Against the Odds. It's about a guy named Ben and he and his amazing story and what that entails, and how he's overcome some of the, um, the hurdles in his life. I literally interviewed him for about two hours and had to cut it down to five minutes, which is really, really, really, really hard. Um, so, um, yeah, it's sort of a little bit rushed, but, um, um, yeah, I'm pretty happy with the end result there.

15:21 Peter:

How did you find Ben, Casey?

Casey:

Oh, he's an amazing guy. Like, from the get go, I just put out the word over... Facebook community page, and Ben responded and saying, yeah, I'd love to help you out, mate. I've got a pretty powerful story if you want to come and... film some of some of the stuff that's like his story. And I was like, really intrigued and I did a bit of a Google. And yeah, he was just an amazing guy to work with. Someone who I look up to from what he's done in his life, like he's done so much, he's got so many awards, and it's just a real nice story of hope and... do it, you know.

Peter:

like it's just a really good, feel-good story when you strive to do something that many people think you probably can't.

Casey:

Exactly, exactly. And that's what the doctors said to him. He said, No, mate, you won't be walking ever again. Basically, you'll be using this wheelchair. And he's like, Well, I'm going to prove you wrong. And he... did that. Yeah. And then, now he's going great.

16:30 Peter:

And of course he's involved with golf as well. Now, a very powerful movement to getting more people with disabilities playing golf as well.

Casey:

He's actually over in America right now as we speak. And yeah, Empower Golf is what is who he works for now. And he's he's going great. He's they had him at golf. They... provide a accessible wheelchair that goes on the green and... converts up to a standing platform for disabled golfers to actually hit the ball and and have a good time on the green in golf. You know, and and he travels Australia and shows people that it can be done. 

17:11 Peter:

And of course he was given up... well, he was virtually given up, his dad, wasn't he at one stage?

Casey:

Yeah. So in the doco he explains a little bit about it. But on the Bali bombings night, he... was presumed dead. So they put him in a makeshift morgue in like a little area with all the other dead bodies. And, and then it was really lucky because someone was walking past and saw him move underneath the sheet and they're Hang on, hang out. There's someone alive in here! And they pulled him out, and. And that's how her... sort of got out of that situation. But then they rested him up against a car, which later on caught on fire, which burnt him more. So... yeah, he had a bit of a rough, rough ride that day, that's for sure.

17:54 Peter:

When you were doing the film and kind of the research, did you kind of think, you know, I mean, I'm... you can't make this stuff up.

Casey:

Exactly. Yeah. His story is so powerful, and it's not so much about what happened to him on that day all those years ago. It's what he has done with his life as a double amputee. And with all those emotional scars, you know, like, you can talk about it really, really easy. And if I reckon if I went through something like that, I don't think I'd be able to talk about it, I don't know. Like, he's he's an amazing character that just strives to do his best with what he's been dealt with from his life.

18:39 Peter:

You know, I see a bit of a tongue in cheek question. Do you kind of share your prize with Ben, or how does that work?

Casey:

Of course, of course, of course, yeah. So it's his story... I just was lucky enough to come across it, you know, and and lucky enough to tell it my way. But... yeah, of course, the prize is definitely shared between us. Yeah. Yeah.

19:01 Peter:

It's a fantastic thing. The the Focus on Ability Film Festival. We've been speaking to Ryan and other people from the festival almost since the get go. And I mean, it's growing from strength to strength. I mean, the prizes are fantastic as well. But, you know, in a sense, the piece de resistance is... the SBS showing of the... event and kind of... packaging it up for, you know, mainstream to kind of really get an idea of what disability is all about.

Casey:

Yeah, exactly. Like, there's plenty of eyes on SBS, so it'll be a really good, good avenue to go to when to get people's films looked at, you know, and yeah, I'm looking forward to that. Yeah.

19:40 Peter:

I guess, you know, from a filmmaker's point of view, which is what you are, you probably look at the films that are on a bit different to how we might as They're just filmgoers, if you like. Yeah.

Casey:

I'm always looking at the... shots, the... story because I think a good... story is driven from the actual content. So like if you've got a good story, you've got a good film, you know.

20:05 Peter:

Casey, congratulations to you and Ben. I guess, in particular to Ben for the way that the story has come out. It's it. You tell it so. Well, it's five minutes, but I'll tell you what. It's five riveting minutes. I mean, literally, I'm not just saying this to talk to you, but literally every second, you know, is is impactful. And it was fantastic. So look forward to catching up with it on, um, International Day for people with disabilities and SBS. Congratulations again to you. And we wish you well for the future, Casey.

Casey

Well, thanks very much. Thanks for your time. Yeah.

20:36 Peter

Cheers. Casey Andrew. They're one of the winners of this year's Focus on Ability Short Film Festival. It's called Against the Odds. You can catch it on the website if you can't wait till International Day, catch on the website. Let's say five minutes, but it's 300 seconds of impactful viewing.

20:55 ID:

You're in elite company listening to Leisure Link on Vision Australia Radio, VA radio, digital VA radio, dot org, and through the TuneIn radio app.

21:08 Peter:

Always plenty happening at No Strings Attached. They're going to finish the year with a big bang. Let's chat about it with their CEO, Kari Seeley. Kari, great to catch up again. How are you going?

Kari:

Oh, Peter I'm great. Thank you. Thank you so much for chatting with us again. We just love the opportunity to speak with you and tell others about what we're up to.

21:26 Peter:

Well, you're always doing such great things that it's always worth talking about. Now, you were, as I said, going to finish with them amplifying the year.

Kari:

Yes. Actually, Peter, we have amplified the end of year showcase performance coming up the last three days of November. And then, believe it or not, we've got three more events to finish off our 30th year, all wrapping up with our last event on the 15th of December.

21:49 Peter:

All right, let's talk about Amplify first. So you've got three shows and one is already described.

Kari:

Yes that's right. So we have three performances all making up one show. And each of those three performances are brand new. And they will all be in a one hour show with a little interval in the middle. And those shows we have, we're opening on Thursday the 28th of November at 7 p.m. then we have an Auslan interpreted show at 1 p.m. on Friday the 29th of November. Audio described show 7 p.m. that night, Friday 29th of November, and then two more shows the following day, Saturday the 30th of November, a show at 2 p.m. and a show at 7 p.m. so five performances and yes, one will be audio described. That's Friday, the 29th of November at 7 p.m.

22:36 Peter:

OK. What's Amplify about, for those that might not be aware? Yeah.

Kari:

So our performers come and attend workshops each week throughout the year for about 40 weeks a year. And each of our workshops, we have one on Tuesday night, Thursday afternoon and one on Saturday morning. And those three workshops work together this year. They've been working with a guest director all year. And so our fabulous guest directors this year are Hugh Parham. You might know him from the symphony of the bicycle that he's presented in space theater this year, which has actually been nominated for a Ruby Award, which is fabulous. 

Peter: 

Oh, brilliant. Ruby. 

Kari: 

He's an amazing physical theatre practitioner from Holland. He's teaching at Taboo. He's teaching at AC Arts and Adelaide University, and he does a lot of his own physical theatre work and street theatre. So we're very blessed to have him as one of our guest directors as well. And Catherine Purling is back again this year, creating a fabulous new show. So those three workshops work together all year. They have guest directors coming in and working and collaborating with them, and those workshops create a new work every single year.

And then Amplify is presented at the end of the year as kind of a showcase performance of their work. And it's about amplifying disability voices. So No Strings really appreciates the disability lens for all of our work, regardless of whether the works are actually about disability or just about life.

24:08 Peter:

Fantastic. All right. Well, we'll give people details again as to when and where and how people can book. Now that doesn't finish there. 

Kari:

Well, it doesn't, but let me tell you about Amplify. As I said, those three days, we've got five performances over three days at the end of November, 28, 29, 30. And it's being presented with fabulous support by our dear friends at State Opera South Australia, because those shows are being presented at their rehearsal studio, which is at Netley, and I never know where Netley is, but I do know where the corner of Richmond Road and Marion Road is just in behind the airport. So once again, completely accessible venue. Wheelchair users can roll straight in from the car park, and we have a bar and a box office. 

We'll be doing raffles. It's really a festive, wonderful celebration. Very family friendly and disability support access friendly as well. And so yeah, we'd love to see anyone down there. You can buy tickets online, but you can also get them at the door half an hour prior to performance times.

25:12 Peter:

We'll put the details up with our show notes. What's coming up after that?

Kari:

Yes. Okay. So after that we are releasing our second ever film, No Strings, released our first ever film at the beginning of this year. So, Peter, you probably know this is our 30th year. No Strings was established by Helen Flint Leach, who lived with disability herself back in 1994, and she recognised the transformative power of paid, meaningful work in the arts. And we absolutely carry on that legacy, and we stand on the shoulders of giants of all those who've come before over these last 30 years. But for the first time ever, No Strings has created their own movie. And it's called My Stories Matter. And in fact, the first one was so successful, Peter, we've decided, look, you know what? Don't reinvent the wheel. Let's build on this. 

And so we're actually developing a trilogy of films, and we've we've released our first one at the beginning of the year. And each of these films are what we call a fictional documentary. So our actors speak their story directly to the camera, but they blend fact and aspiration, and you're never quite sure where that line moves, but it's a lot of fun... it's a very quirky format, and it draws on the filmmaking making process from Roy Anderson, who's a Swedish filmmaker. So My Stories Matter was launched at the beginning of the year, and on December the 3rd International Day of People with disability, we're releasing our second film called My Stories Matter Reloaded, and we're presenting that at the Mercury Cinema on Morphett Street in the city, the home of the Adelaide Film Festival. Great place to host it. So tickets available for that. And that is, as I said, on the 3rd of December. 

The great thing about that film is that because it's a narrative based, there's not a lot of audio description required to be able to follow the narrative, but if any people with low vision or no vision attend, I will be there and I personally will provide on the spot live audio description as needed.

27:15 Peter:

Firstly, , well done for you. I've had that done myself. I've got to be honest. Full disclosure, I've had that done myself by you and it's a great experience. Yeah, you're not bad at it Kari, are you really? 

Kari:

I mean, well, look, you know, Peter, it's good to know what you're good at, is all I can say.

27:30 Peter:

You are good at that.

Kari:

But I'm good at talking. My dad says I've honed it into an art form. He's probably right.

27:37 Peter:

Making a career out of it.

Kari:

Indeed.

27:40 Peter:

Not a bad thing.

Kari:

Thank you. So the next show that we're presenting is an amazing dancer with Down Syndrome: Kaya Gunter, lives on the north coast of New South Wales, and he has developed a show that had a showing in Queensland at Home of the Arts, HOTA. But the Adelaide premiere will be 9, 10 and 11 of December - and this show doesn't have any speaking in it. It's a beautiful show about his experiences of being sidelined, ignored, overlooked and left behind. And in fact, the show is called Left Behind - and we're presenting that all thanks to our dear friends at Slingsby Theatre. We're presenting in their Hall of Possibility out on Glen Osmond Road. So, big advocates for partnership here in the arts in South Australia, and we're so glad for their support at Slingsby.

28:36 Peter:

What a great what a great name for a whole, yes... whole lot of possibility.

Kari:

Yeah, yeah. Brilliant. And then our big wrap up for our 30th year, on Sunday, the 15th of December at the Regal Theatre out on Kensington Road - used to be called the Chelsea, and that's had a revamp. It's been beautifully renovated in the 1920s style, so the theatre itself is quite an experience, fully accessible. Again, you can roll in from the car park if you're a wheelchair user or have mobility aids, and at that. So 6:30 at night, we'll be kicking off on Sunday the 15th of December. We're going to review our 30th year and launch next year's program. 

And Peter, I have an exclusive for you. No one else has this. I like to keep a little thing up my sleeve just for you and your listeners. Peter, we're going to be releasing or launching a coffee table book or celebrating the milestones and say to them, Oh, you made 80 years. So we're launching a book called Fearless, Limitless, Boundless - celebrating 30 years of No Strings.

29:46 Peter:

Fantastic. And the book will be available sometime next year then. Or is it...?

Kari:

No, no, no. No. It will be available then. So we're actually just. And I'm madly finishing up with the designer in the next couple of days. And then we're going to go out to our current supporters and those who've donated to help us get this publication happening. And anyone who buys a ticket for our 30th year celebration on Sunday the 15th, we'll get access to a pre-release or release special price for our 30th night, if that makes sense. Yeah, so a little bit of a discount and yes, limited edition. We're only printing 300 copies. So once they're gone, they're gone. You know all of the things. But we're very excited because, again, another year of firsts. Why, Peter, why not wrap up our extraordinary third year to year with yet another first? And that is, our first publication?

30:41 Peter:

Yeah, I can tell you, putting it all in the books. They got a film, you got a book, you've got live shows, you've got everything that anyone could want - and Kari, on a serious note, or you've been serious all the way through, I know, but with the with the book, I mean, that's a great thing for, you know, future generations to kind of reflect on and say, well, back in 1994 till now, that's going to be a real kind of historical document as well. 

Kari:

Yeah. Peter, you're absolutely right. I you know, I just love that you get it. This is such an important project to finish off our year, but also to launch the next 30 years and beyond for no strings, because it really is. You know, the further you get away from the start of something, the more you. You can tend to forget the challenges and the the beautiful successes, because we're just busy with the here and now and today, whatever that might look like. But it's just been such a blessing to reflect on the past 30 years. 

I've only been at No Strings for the last 11, 12 years, but this previous 20 years of history has really come alive in this, in this project for me. And to be able to present that really as a gift to our community, but also to the broader community of South Australia is. Yeah, look, I'm really proud of that. I need to put in a plug. We had beautiful work from an author, published author and editor, Dr Marcia Kranhold. She's given her time absolutely free to oversee this project for us. And we've had a number of Unisa students working on this project as their placement. 

And again, this whole thing of partnership. Peter, we couldn't do this, we couldn't deliver these extraordinary outcomes without the beautiful partnership of so many people around Adelaide, around South Australia and Australia. And I know you listened in to the Christmas pageant broadcast recently, and again, that was a five way partnership by a number of community organisations. And look, I know, I know, you know this, you live this, but it's just beautiful to celebrate this collaborative collegiate partnership environment that we do have in South Australia.

32:51 Peter:

Well, the more of that we have, the more winners we have. And that's the important thing. Yes. Kari, No Strings Attached, on the web, also  08 8363 5970 is your telephone number. All those details are also on our show notes. Great to catch up. We might not speak to you again this year, but we'll certainly catch up with you again in the future. Congratulations on 30 years, and certainly sounds like you're just going from strength to strength to strength to strength.

Kari:

Look, thank you so much, Peter. It's always a delight to chat with you. I think I do most of the talking. We all nodded. Yes. But I just love the opportunity to to share my passion and and the beautiful blessing that No Strings is to the world and has been for 30 years. So thank you. Merry Christmas to you and those you love. And I really look forward to catching you at a show and then catching up again next year.

33:41 S1

Kari through there, CEO for No Strings Attached.

33:47 Louise Sauvage:

Hi, I'm Louise Sauvage, Paralympic medalist, and you're listening to Leisure Link with Peter Greco on the Vision Australia Radio network.

33:56 Peter

It's really great to welcome the program. Professor Matthew Kiernan, who's just received the GSK Research Service of Excellence, and Matthew's on the line. Professor Matthew Keenan, thanks so much for your time and we appreciate you speaking to us. Congratulations.

Matthew:

Thanks very much, Peter.

34:11 Peter:

Before we talk about the research that you're doing, what got you into this sort of neuroscience area?

Matthew:

Well, I suppose it dates back now some three decades. But at that stage, the president of the United States would, was George Bush. And he declared the 1990s as the Decade of the Brain. And I was a junior doctor. And I thought, actually, this sounds really interesting. And there were so many things about the brain that we didn't understand, most of the other systems in... the human body, cardiology, respiratory, gastroenterology, people have a very good understanding. But the brain was the final frontier. And to have this investment, global investment, looking at how the brain functions, I thought this is... what I wanted to do.

34:50 Peter:

Okay. What about 30 years later, Matthew, do we know more of how it functions? Well, I guess we know more, but how much more do we know?

Matthew:

Well, I think it's been exponential. And what we're really seeing now is neurology has really gone into a therapeutic era. So one of the criticisms of neurologists in the past was they could make a diagnosis, but they couldn't do any treatment. But in fact, we've seen some of the most effective treatments across the board. I mean, the best example is multiple sclerosis when I started in the 1990s, there was no treatment. Now we have about 14 registered therapies through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. And in fact, you know, from the first episode of MS. Now it's possible to reset the immune system such that someone never gets another, you know, episode again. 

Similarly, stroke medicine has really gone on in leaps and bounds and people are now, you know, neuroradiologists, neurologists and neurosurgeons are pulling clots out of people's brains during an acute stroke with fantastic results. So we're really we've taken the gauntlet and we're coming into therapies.

35:53 Peter:

Okay. That's interesting, isn't it? Because I guess when President Bush came up with this, it was probably a good idea at the time. But I guess until you kind of fund it, you never kind of know what the end result could be.

Matthew:

Absolutely. And now I think the really the final frontier is neurodegeneration and dementia. And we're seeing now globally that the number one cause of death for females over the age of 75 is dementia and neurodegeneration, and it's inevitable that in the next year or two that it'll be the number one cause of death globally. So clearly we need to do something about it.

36:25 Peter:

So the kind of description of a tsunami is not overexaggerated.

Matthew:

Definitely not. And in in our geographical region in the western Pacific, we'll account for probably more than 50% of the global burden of dementia worldwide. And this is really going to cause economies, politicians, the community, carers, patients and healthcare workers, allied healthcare workers. A major problem. So we need to start planning now.

36:52 Peter:

You've been doing a fair bit of work in the area of MND. I don't know of the last, what, ten years or so, particularly with vitamin D and the big Freeze, particularly for AFL fans. It's got a lot of focus. You've been doing a lot of work in this particular, a lot of work in this particular area.

Matthew:

Yeah. Well, I think the the key message is to bring the community along with you and our best, you know, example of that is Neil Daniher. So faced with the diagnosis of motor neurone disease, universally fatal condition, he decided he wanted to get community awareness and he launched Vitamin D. And it's connected with some great, you know, Australian industries. Coles, Bunnings and single handedly, Fight MND with Neil has generated $135 million of funding for philanthropic research. And he's totally changed the landscape here in Australia, but also internationally. It's been attracting international pharma to come here to drive trials, not just for Australian patients, but for patients around the world. And we're already seeing now the effects of that moving through. And I think that's, that is really a fine example for all of us to follow.

38:00 Peter:

One of the, I guess, admirable things about what Neil is doing is the fact that, in a sense, it's not really going to help him. It is all about people that get diagnosed with the condition in the future. 

Matthew:

Exactly. It's a selfless approach, and I think anyone who's participated in being down at Federation Square before they freeze at the G, which is usually on the long weekend, and having the whole crowd full of people wearing motor neurone disease beanies, then then walking into the MCG and the whole stadium has blue MND beanies. I mean, the awareness that he has created is unimaginable.

38:34 Peter:

To us mere mortals, Matthew, can you give us a bit of an idea of what you're kind of working at? I mean, is it kind of working out why it progresses so quickly? Is it working out why people get it? Is it trying to say, Okay, people have got it - how can we kind of slow down the progress? What sort of area do you kind of concentrate your research in?

Matthew:

It's across the board. But I suppose I am a clinician and I'm dealing with patients. And the first issue is where does motor neurone disease begin? And when I started in neurology it was felt that it was a neuromuscular condition. But gradually over the course of time, we've worked out that the disease begins in the brain itself. So at the cortical motor neuron. So the cell that controls all our voluntary movements. And then there's a process of overactivity of that cell that spreads through the nervous system, through the spinal cord, and ultimately out into the muscles so that patients develop weakness and wasting. Unfortunately, the typical lifespan is 2 to 3 years. 

So we've been also trying to develop new therapies. And we've had, you know, one success from a clinical trial, which is really a cell therapy, which is a neuroprotective medication. There's another medication that's recently been approved by the TGA in Australia called Edaravone. And there's a third medication now looking at people who have genetic forms of motor neurone disease and trying to treat that separately. It's a whole epidemiology. So we're trying to link Australia with international collaborations, particularly through our geographical neighbours here in Asia, but also Western Europe and North America. And it's only through the powers of large patient registries, you know, tens of thousands of individual Patients can. We hope to come up with a better understanding of the condition.

40:14 Peter:

What, about why it happens? Or why does it happen to a person A rather than person B?

Matthew:

I think that's a Nobel-winning question, and so far no one has taken it forward. But we do know that, and Neil is a good example. It tends to affect people who are more fitness-orientated. And certainly in America we have Lou Gehrig's disease, which is motor neurone disease. And we also know that there's a six fold increase in Premier League footballers in Italy. So there seems to be some sporting predisposition.

40:43 Peter:

Okay.

Matthew:

Well we've also looked at a relationship between the incidence and the age of onset. And that tends to be a straight line. And the slope of that straight line is six. So it means that six things have to happen for an individual to develop motor neurone disease. If there is a genetic underpinning, which we know through certain families, that accounts for three of the steps. But there's another three steps that have to happen for someone to actually manifest the disease. Obviously, we're trying to focus on what those three steps might be.

41:14 Peter:

Okay, so you know the three steps, but you don't know what they are.

Matthew:

No. Well, we know that there's extreme trauma can be linked to motor neurone disease. And as an extreme example, people who get a very severe electrical burn in, say, their arm with entry and exit wounds or hit by lightning. That tends to be the area where motor neurone disease beginning begins. But that's obviously an extreme example, I suppose, that we have to bring in as well, you know, personal stresses. And they could be, you know, incredible stresses that someone may experience. And is that sufficient to be one of the final steps to trigger the disease? And that does seem to be the case, but it's only through huge global initiatives that we're going to be able to understand this.

41:54 Peter:

You made a really interesting point. I guess it's kind of of course, but you know, before it's kind of explained, you don't think about it, but you need a lot of people with the condition that can kind of put themselves up as, you know, as subjects is for people to eat for you to do research into. I kind of don't think of that in a sense. You kind of think you're sitting in a lab and and doing this sort of stuff, but you need to be working on people that are experiencing the condition at the time to, to get a really good overview of what goes on.

Matthew:

Exactly. And much of this is driven by philanthropy. So we heard about Neil, but there's also been a project, [?mine] it's called, and we've been looking at looking at the full genetic sequencing of patients who have sporadic ALS. So sporadic disease has come out of nowhere. And interestingly, when we look at the the bloods and the genetics of all of these individuals, and so far it's about 34,000 individuals globally, we've been able to find associations with other diseases of the brain and mind. So patients who have motor neurone disease in their family, there's often other family members who have been affected by, for instance, schizophrenia, autism spectrum disease, bipolar disease, other neurological diseases like Ms. Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Frontotemporal dementia. 

So it does seem to be that there are families who carry diseases of the brain and mind. And again, perhaps that isn't so surprising because we know that in other conditions, like cancer, there are families that carry cancer with them. And whether it's lung cancer, bowel cancer, they're all it's all related in a way. So they're distant cousins. And these are the sort of the information that we're getting from looking at large cohorts of patients.

43:33 Peter:

Fantastic. And on a personal note, winning something like this, being recognised as something like this, I, I guess you don't need a reason to get up in the morning, but maybe just a bit more of a pep in your step.

Matthew:

I think it's lovely that the community is involved, but also that the award was selected by my peers, so they recognised that they think this is an important area of research. But as you say, it's more for the patients who are suffering various conditions that we want to drive treatments.

43:59 Peter:

Matthew, I know you've got a million interviews to do, and you certainly deserve all the praise you get. Thank you for sparing a bit of time with us. We wish you well, and would it be great to maybe catch up with you in the future when maybe some more breakthroughs, but you've given us a great little insight into what what goes on. So thank you for doing that.

Matthew:

Well, thanks, Peter, and thanks for you and your listeners for showing interest in this area. And hopefully we can come up with better therapies that are going to help all of us. 

44:20 Peter:

There you go. That's neuroscientist of the year, if we can call him that, GSK Award winner, Professor Matthew Kiernan, talking to us about his research and his recent recognition. Okay.

44:31 ID/PROMO:

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44:44 Peter:

It's one of those happy and sad occasions, I think at the same time if it can be like that. Let's welcome to the program the outgoing CEO for Care. As I say David Militz. David, welcome. Good to catch up again. 

David:

Thanks for having me on, Peter. Always good to catch up.

44:58 Peter:

David, you're stepping down from your role with Care SA.

David:

[Yes] Peter. It's been, I've been with the organisation two and a half years. And I've been in the CEO role for, for eight and a half years. And and yes, the December 20th will be my... last day. So it's it's it's coming up pretty quickly.

45:14 Peter:

All right. How do you reflect on your time - because ten years at the organisation, eight years... and so I'd imagine it'd be pretty... intense. There wouldn't be much time to kind of take a breath, you know, for the chats that we've had with you, it's a pretty full on...? 

David:

Look, it is. And it's reflecting on the time. It's... immensely grateful, I guess. I know it sounds pretty corny, but pretty grateful to have been able to work in a sector that... really needs support. Let's say carers really need... strong advocacy to decision makers. And so that's probably the bit that I reflect on, I reflect on the most is the ability to be able to do that on behalf of people that sometimes don't have the, the ability to... get to those, you know, politicians, MPs, councillors, they don't have the ability to do that. So I've been pretty lucky, been able to what we call represent the voices or present the voices of carers to those decision makers. So it's been good fun. It's been challenging. Lots of, as we say in the Not For Profit sector, is banging your head up against a brick wall, at times. It's been really enjoyable and really enjoyable.

46:20 Peter:

It's interesting point you make, though, about kind of presenting or representing those because as we would know in anyone that's done any caring, you know, in their lives knows how difficult that is. And like you're flat out doing that, you don't have the time or the energy in many respects to kind of do that advocacy work, do you as a sort of full time carer, which a lot of people are?

David:

No, you don't. And look, to be fair, what carers will be doing is advocating really strongly for their individual situation because often and we use the word fighting and it's you know, but but often carers are fighting the system or a system that often don't have the time for the bigger advocacy. And so that's, you know, I see our job as one. We deliver support to carers, but there's a component of what we do which is trying to gather the voice and make it easy for carers to give us their opinion and to give us their voice, and then be able to convey that to to government and decision makers and those people who provide services. So they're the... things that... I think we do, we try and do as best we can for carers. So what I would call broad-based advocacy work.

47:30 Peter:

And I guess that's one side of it, if you like. But then there's also the support of each other or the peer support, the sort of camaraderie that that is also needed to kind of, you know, a problem shared is a problem halved, sort of thing.

David:

Absolutely. So we know we know recognition is a big thing for carers. And we've we've spoken to the federal government and the state government, you know, ad nauseam about this around when they've been doing the reviews of the South Australian Carer Recognition Act and when they've also been developing the National Carer Strategy, where we are saying that recognition is a key point for carers. It actually connects really strongly to their wellbeing, so recognition of a carer, um carer is a really important and so we do that as an organisation. But also, as you say, better carers do that to each other and recognise each other. And so it has a really strong connection to social support or social connection. 

We know in our latest survey that 60% of carers are the National Carers survey we've completed. 60% of carers say that they have high social disconnection. And so that's a really big number. And then that... then impacts wellbeing massively. So one of the things that we try to do is to by bringing those voices together so that sometimes remotely you can connect people up. But also part of our service services that we offer are also to, to try and connect people and support groups. It's one of the things that... carers love.

48:59 Peter:

I know one of the great things that you've got to be doing, David, is being all things to all carers because they come in all age groups, don't they?

49:06 S9

They do. And it is and it is probably the hardest thing I think, to when on two angles, trying to deliver supports or provide supports to carers, you know, from as young as seven that I've met through to in their 90s and trying to trying to make sure that services or supports that government, you know, that the government fund us to deliver, try to make sure that they are individualised and tailored to a specific carer. It is a massive challenge. You know, it's not a cookie cutter situation. Not everybody needs the same thing at the same time. So that from a service delivery perspective and, you know, and our team talking to carers every day, that that is a really difficult thing to do because we want it to be tailored. We want it to be specific for... the carer.

49:53 Peter:

David, you've... announced the fact that you're stepping down. I don't think your replacement has been named at this stage. I think they're undertaking a search to find the right person. Might have to be 3 or 4 people, David?

David:

Yeah. Peter. So my, as I was saying to my team that my strengths, I've got some really great things that I do, and I've got an executive team that... provides and fills in the gaps... but the new person that will come in will have, you know, will have great strengths as well... and they will ensure the organisation. I've got no doubt they'll ensure the organisation continues and does really well and provides support. It might just be in a slightly different way so they won't, the person will will come in and be able to make the make the CEO position their own. But the the support or the requirements of carers and the needs of carers aren't going to change... so the organisation's purpose will start exactly the same.

50:42 Peter:

David, are you allowed to tell us who you're going on to to serve after this, or...?

David:

I believe I am now because it's take it's... take a little while, but I'm, I... am able to to say that I'm going to the the Rural Workforce Agency, and they have told all their staff now so they they know I'm coming and, and... look, it's another really complex area. It's about, you know, ensuring that the primary health care staff, so doctors, nurses and allied health staff are, are as good as they can be. The levels of those staff and the retention of those staff is as good as they can be in regional and remote South Australia. So look, another really complex area. 

But but something that I've learned from carers, you know, travelling around South Australia, they say to me that, you know, it is hard to, you know, a doctor is leaving or we... have very low staffing in our, at our hospital or you know, so there's some really big, really big issues in regional and remote South Australia and... the, what do they call it... thin markets or levels of staffing across aged care, disability, mental health, health are an issue in regional remote South Australia sites. It'll be a really complex area to go to and I'm looking forward to it, but also a little nervous at the same time. 

52:02 Peter:

Well, David, have a bit of a rest over Christmas into the New Year. We look forward to speaking to you again in the future.

David:

And to you. 

Peter: And I'll remember speaking to Rosemary Willmington, the very lovely Rosemary, going back years and years. We've had a wonderful association with her, as I say. I'm sure that'll continue with whoever takes over, but I look forward to keeping in touch with you as well. So thank you for all you've done as far as your support and your availability. Also arranging interviews for us from time to time with award winners, etc. it's been very much appreciated. It's been a great relationship and I'm sure we'll speak again in the not too distant future.

David:

Oh look, I'm sure we will pay there and look for your flexibility in having us on on a regular basis. I really appreciate it. Always love having you chat... to you, and you always ask good questions. So thank you so much for your support over the years.

52:47 Peter:

That's... David Militz, the outgoing CEO for Care SA. We wish David well and I'm sure we'll speak much more about both topics, both the rural health and carers in the new year.

52:58 Alison:

Hi everyone, I'm Alison Davies, I'm a registered music therapist specialising in using music to support our brain to function at its best. You're listening to Leisure Link with Peter Greco on the Vision Australia Radio network.

53:18 Peter:

Let's welcome to the program Hannah Enright, who is from Talking Matters and equally importantly will be at KydX this coming Saturday, the 30th of November. Hannah,  lovely to meet you.  Thank you for your time. 

Hannah:

Thanks so much, Peter. Lovely to have the invite.

53:32 Peter:

Yeah, it's a pleasure. How about you? Looking forward to KydX. Have you been there before?

Hannah:

Yes. Peter. Yes. I've personally been to KydX for the last three years, but I know that... it's been, you know, running very strongly for a number of years prior to that. So very excited to see what this year's events... what events occur, and we're very excited to be one of the major sponsors for this year's event.

53:57 Peter:

Fantastic. You know, you're a speech pathologist at Talking Matters. Tell us a bit about kind of what you bring to the expo. What what are you going to be bringing and what can people kind of talk to you about?

Hannah:

Yeah, absolutely. I'm a speech pathologist, and we also have... a great team of occupational therapists and my speech pathology peers here at Talking Matters. We see kids in the office here at Elizabeth Downs and also in the South at Christie Downs. I'm actually hoping to share with the community all the programs and supports that we do provide. We're really proud of the expansion of our services of late, really recognising the importance of group programs and things like that, in addition to ongoing evidence based services in the one-to-one like intervention space, both here at in our clinics and also in the community and at schools. 

So where did we find all of that information? And I think it's really nice for the community to be able to engage with staff who work here at something like KydX to really get to know who we are. We do have a really prolific social media account that we're very proud of, and we have an incredible admin team who connect and the community with us, but nothing quite beats, you know, meeting a couple of really enthusiastic clinicians on the day.

55:20 Peter:

Great point. So are your services mainly aimed at younger people, Hannah?

Hannah:

Yeah, we primarily see children... anywhere from the infant years, you know, two-three year olds all the way up until either school, like the end of schooling, you know, into adult transition. But we're also... very proudly, you know... looking after children and young adults in that space. They can stay with us, essentially, whatever they need us. So yeah, we do have a large age range down here at Dalby Matters. 

55:54 Peter

OK. I guess if they keep coming back, you must be doing something right. What about in terms of the sort of disability or your sort of... client profile, if you like? I guess it's wide ranging, but kind of disabilities that you might deal with or work with. 

Hannah:

Absolutely. Yeah. So... we see a lot of children with developmental disabilities either, you know, in early stages of diagnosis or if they've had a diagnosis for a number of years... where we don't do so much physical disabilities, but we are really in the space of being able to support children in communication and... motor development and everyday occupation. Development through our occupation is occupational therapy services. We, you know, we do see a lot of children with NDIS funding that fit that criteria. And so, as you would know, though, a lot of what we do is tailoring our programs and our supports that need the clients rather than the name of their disability per se. 

But it is it's very warming that we're also able to support a lot of children with a lot of different disabilities, you know, ranging from autism to... literacy difficulties and disabilities. Other fine and gross motor disabilities, develop global developmental delay, intellectual disabilities. Yeah.

57:22 Peter:

You talked about, uh, you know, sort of coming into a child's life or a client's life. Is it the old cliche, Hannah, that the earlier the intervention, the better the outcome?

Hannah:

We'd like to hope so, Peter. I mean, early intervention is essential for, you know, supporting those children and their families. You know, families, caregivers and support networks are just as important. And we like to think that the early intervention does support ongoing development as the child ages. And fortunately or unfortunately, you know, the demands of society and community and education and all those things typically increase as a child ages. And so we're also there for them in those stages as well, which we're really fortunate to be. Um, we grow with the client. We're always thinking about the ways in which we can support them in reaching their potential, wherever they may be. 

So yeah, we do feel like early intervention is the key. But certainly we're also able to make really great gains with those children and, um, who are who are identified as having... additional needs later in life as well.

58:31 Peter:

And as far as bigger kids go, I'm assuming that you'll have people there to talk to those that turn up, but also if they want to take information away. Because an event like kids is great because you get lots of different providers all in one spot, so you can come to one stop shopping. But by the same token, you can get that kind of information overload and it's good to go away and digest it a bit afterwards.

Hannah:

I absolutely agree, Peter. Yes, a goodie bag can be filled with all things. Solving matters. So we do have really nice brochures, and we've got a number of merchandise materials that we're really excited to share with the families of the communities. You know, we're only a phone call away, as you said. You know, it's a lot of information on the day, but we're only a phone call away. Our social media is also a great way to get to know us, connect with us. And. Yeah, so there'll be plenty, there's plenty of information.

59:23 Peter:

All right, well, it'll be a great day. And there'll be catering as well. And entertainment. So it should be a tremendous day. And from 9:30 at the netball stadium at Mile End, it gets underway. It's free, which is going to be a good thing as well. So it won't cost you anything to get along and you'll come away with lots of great information. And if people want to find out more about Talking Matters, how can we do that? You talked about your social media presence. Where are you? Or maybe it's easier to ask, where aren't you?

Hannah:

Ah, there are so many places without data. Yeah. We have a website. That is commu... yeah. Social media. Both. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn as well. For those other service providers, that might be. Yeah. Good choice. Yeah. All of our information will have, you know, QR codes and information in our booth on the day so that people can just quickly and easily connect to us. But yeah, as as I said, also, you know, we've got lots of paper resources and things as well as people want to see us from that direction.

1:00:25 Peter:

I love the name. Talking Matters has got a bit of a double entendre, hasn't it? Kind of. Two meetings, talking matters and talking matters, so I love that. Hannah, we'll put details up on our Facebook page as well, or in fact on our show notes as well about that. So... enjoy the show. It'll be great. And now that we've made contact with you, we might call upon you in the future for some expertise in the area of speech pathology. 

Hannah:

We'd be more than willing to help you at any time.

1:00:49 Peter:

Well, you have a great day on the 30th.

Hannah:

Thank you so much. Thanks for your support.

1:00:53 Peter:

That's Hannah Enright, to was from one of the sponsors of KydX, which will be at the Mile End Netball Stadium on the 30th of November. If you want more details you can go to our show notes. But Talking Matters is also got a Facebook page and a website and Instagram, so you can find out more information from those avenues as well.

1:01:17 ID:

On the Vision Australia Network through your favorite podcast service. On 1197 AM in Adelaide, you're listening to Leisure Link.

1:01:26 Peter:

Let's talk about perinatal mental health. And this is an awareness week, which is obviously very, very important. Let's speak to the president of the Marce Society Australasia, Karen Wynter. Karen, thanks so much for your time. 

Karen:

It's okay Peter, thanks for having me. 

1:01:38 Peter:

Now you've Got some concerns regarding, I guess, the lack of community support in this area.

Karen:

Oh, look, I'll be a little bit more cautious than that. I think we're very lucky in Australia. We have incredible support for new families in pregnancy and after the birth of a child, and many countries don't have that kind of universal support. Peter. But there's still a lot of families that are reporting that they didn't feel supported in the transition to parenthood. And that's that's, of course, partly to do with the fact that a lot of our families live in remote areas, and it's difficult to access health services there. But also... the services don't always meet the needs of the families, but in general, we're very lucky. But unfortunately, there's still some families that are not feeling well supported.

1:02:27 Peter:

And what sort of impact does this have? Because I'm thinking, well, this is perinatal. I mean, what about sort of after the after the event, after the birth.

Karen:

Yeah. Well, that's a really good question, Peter. So what we find is that, you know, there is an increased vulnerability to anxiety and depression symptoms in pregnancy and the first postnatal year. But for many parents, and that's both mothers and fathers and other parents. And this persists up to about child age 4 or 5. So the vulnerability, the fatigue, the depression, the anxiety, this can continue well into early childhood.

1:03:00 Peter:

It's a long time, isn't it, to kind of quite be putting up with that?

Karen:

Yes, indeed.

1:03:04 Peter:

What about as far as... you talked about some of the services there are in place - is it a funding issue? Is there, are professionals being able to deliver the services that would be better if there was more?

Karen:

I think it's a little bit of everything, Peter. So I think there's always, you know, funding issues. But the Perinatal Mental Health Week is an amazing initiative. It's just in the last couple of years that we've had this where we bring together all the services that do exist, and once you put them together, you start to see that we do actually have a very comprehensive list. And yesterday in Canberra, there were 57 organisations around the table, and that's that's really impressive. But of course, there's always work to be done in making those services a little bit more integrated. 

So if you if you go to one service and that doesn't meet your needs, that they will be able to tell you about another service, or if you go to a midwife that she will be able to pass on the resources for your partner who might be struggling with his mental health. So we just need to be a little bit more aware and a little bit more on top of integrating our services. But we are we do have an increasing number of services available in Australia.

1:04:13 Peter:

I was going to ask you about knowing where to go or who to tap into to get the the best support for your particular issue. Because as you say, sometimes there can be lots of things out there, but if we don't know about it, we think there's not much out there.

Karen:

Well, that's exactly right. So your first port of call is always the GP... and of course there are issues with waiting lists. And in some areas that we have a shortage of GP's, but mostly the GP is readily available and should have access to all the information about the different services. We're very lucky to have Medicare subsidised mental health care in Australia, so if you if you're struggling with anxiety or depression symptoms, the GP can write you a mental health plan and you can go for some psychology and a counselling sessions. The GP should also be aware of other resources. You know Panda is a wonderful helpline, so Panda talks to hundreds of parents, both mothers and fathers, on a daily basis. We have specialised services. 

So for people who've suffered bereavement or loss or whose babies are in the neonatal intensive care unit, there are a lot of specialised services. So there's actually on the Perinatal Mental Health Week website, there is a list of all the supporting organisations and the links to their organisations. So you can actually go in there and and say, you know, for example, you've suffered a lot of miscarriages. You'll go look for pink elephants. And if you if you are looking for support for a father, you'll go to a dads group. So... it's, we're starting to bring it together. Peter. It's a... work in progress that we're starting to bring our services together and make it more accessible for families.

1:05:53 Peter:

I reckon one of the things that's happened over the last ten years, maybe longer, has been, I guess, more preparedness for people to speak about these mental health challenges a bit more openly in the area of perinatal areas that the case as well, do you think?

Karen:

Oh, absolutely. I think you're 100% right there, Peter. I think even among women... in my parents generation, they would never have admitted to, you know, being to... struggling with symptoms of depression or anxiety. And now, fortunately, it's become people are much more aware and open to it. And people don't feel so stigmatised when they talk about these symptoms. But I think sometimes men fathers might still feel a little bit of stigma. So we've still got some work to do in that area, making it common for people to talk about this and and making. Making people share their experience. So you know, you're not alone. There are lots of other people struggling with these experiences.

1:06:46 Peter:

In Canberra during the week. I'm going to assume you were talking to politicians. What sort of ear did they have open? What sort of communication was there?

Karen:

Look, I didn't personally get to talk to any of them, because there were 57 organisations and... but they did. We had the Health Minister and the Assistant Minister all give a really, I would say, heartfelt talks about the matter and listening very carefully. We had a panel with people with lived experience of various horrible, horrible postnatal mental health problems, and I would say they did have the ear of the politicians and they were really open to it. And they the fact that there were quite a few politicians in the room shows that they were willing to give their time and to listen to this. And Australia, as I say, Peter is generally quite committed to providing really good mental health care overall, but specifically in the perinatal period as well.

1:07:44 Peter:

And of course, I mean, you know, a lot of politicians would kind of know what you're talking about in terms of empathy. Either they or someone very close to them might have gone through this. Or of course, you know, many of them may have had children as well. So it's easy to identify something you can identify with easily - if that's not too much of a tautology.

Karen:

I think you're absolutely right. I think we all know someone who has really struggled with the birth of a child, and that would be true for the politicians as well.

1:08:10 Peter:

That rural issue is such an important role, isn't it, Karen? I mean, it's not just in prenatal health, but in sorts of in all sorts of areas, I guess, you know, we are a big country and the tyranny of distance can be an issue kind of for things like this.

1:08:24 Karen:

I think that's very true. But one of the few blessings of Covid is that we have done we are now doing better with online offerings. So there are now there are now apps and websites and things like that, but also there's telehealth. So if you live in a rural area, you can still consult with a doctor or a specialist psychiatrist or psychologist online now, which a few years ago wouldn't have been available to you. So at least there's there's a little bit of progress in that area.

1:08:54 Peter:

No, that's a great point. What about as far as, you know, parents who maybe have other challenges in their life? I'm thinking about parents with disabilities, maybe parents who might have had mental health challenges early on in life. Does that kind of... impact as well when it comes to, you know, that perinatal period?

Karen:

Absolutely. So I think parents who have disabilities are much more vulnerable to mental health challenges. And sometimes the people can be a bit insensitive and say to them, Oh, maybe you don't want to have children because your children might inherit the risk. And you know, that's not helpful at all, but they definitely need a lot more support parents with disabilities if you've had childhood trauma. More and more, we're finding the evidence is showing that you are at much higher risk of depression, anxiety and other perinatal mental health problems. 

But the thing is, Peter, what we need to realise is that if you know this about someone, you can actually anticipate it and almost prevent it. So if you talk to women and men in pregnancy and look at some of the major risk factors and ask them, you know, if they experience any... difficulties in their childhood, if you know that, you can build in extra support and then you can hopefully buffer against some of those symptoms of depression and anxiety.

1:10:10 Peter:

That is such a powerful point. Karen, you touched on earlier, there is a website that people can go to almost a one stop shop, or at least you can kind of launchpad into other services and get more information. Would you like to give us what that is? And what we can also do is put that up in our show notes, so people aren't in a position to take it down right now If they go to our show notes, they can find it there. And of course, as I always say, they can always call us here at the radio station if they miss any information. But have you got the website handy there?

Karen:

Sure. So it's pmhweek, perinatal mental health week or one word pmhweek dot org forward slash who hyphen can hyphen help.

1:10:50 Peter:

Okay, that's pretty straightforward and certainly sounds like a worthwhile resource. I'd love to talk to you. First time we spoke and I've really enjoyed I've really appreciated the things that you've said, and hopefully we can chat to you again in the future.

Karen:

Peter, it's been an absolute pleasure. Thanks for your interest in this area.

1:11:06 Peter:

That's Karen Wynter there, the president of the Marce Society of Australasia, talking about Perinatal Mental Health Week. All those details up with our show notes. And as always, 1300 847 406 if you're going to give us a call here at the radio station. 

Well. It's great to [welcome to] our program, our finance guru - have enjoyed his company throughout the year. Neville, great to be with you again. Thank you for your time.

Neville:

Well, I've enjoyed it, Peter, and I thank the listeners for listening to me. I always enjoy talking about investments and, perhaps... but this being the final one for this year, I should perhaps just... reiterate the what I believe are the highlights of the past year.

1:12:10 Peter:

We're all ears.

Neville:

Good, good. Yeah. Look, I think that the most important thing that I've been able to pass on to listeners is the bogey of the share market is not correct, but there's a very strong feeling in the community by a lot of people, that the share market is a risky proposition if you do it the right way, and that's the way I recommend it, by only investing in the big blue chip shares and take a long term view. Not only is it not risky, it is the safest investment you can have. And I say this because with the usual investment for a lot of people is to put money on term deposit, but they have the great enemy of inflation and every year they don't realise it. 

But their money is earning. Earning is playing, buying less than it did the year before so that you've lost money. The interest rates haven't been good anyway, but by the time you take in inflation, so your real only alternative way to it is to. But the best alternative to keep pace with inflation is to invest in the blue chip shares on a long term basis. I myself have followed this policy for something like 40 years. And to give you an example of what I mean, I have one particular investment in myself that I wouldn't have put more than about $40,000 into it over the years, like about 35 years ago, but it's now worth about 650,000, and it's earning rate for 28 years has been 14.5%. 

So what that means is each year without me doing anything on average, I'm going to have nearly 100,000 increase, half of which is cash, and the other is capital appreciation. Of course, bad year for the share market and it could drop 50%. I've seen it happen. But you don't worry about it because you know there's going to come. Good. So I reiterate this very important point that you and your children, grandchildren, etc. should get advice from me or someone. You can ring me any time you like. On 0452 596 855 I say nothing and I can fill you in. So that's the biggest thing I think I talked about. 

The next biggest thing would probably be a unique, I think probably possibly a unique plan to benefit your grandchildren. This is to say, a policy where you put $1,000 into a particular fund that I recommend. It makes 14.5% over on average. And when that child, my grandson, is about 32, when he gets to 60, he'll have over $6 million in it. And you compare this with a Now the industry trends and there's no comparison. People who invest in the industry funds as opposed to this fund, if they get advice about they've got it wrong. This is the way to do it. So you know, there again I can fill you in, but you've got to ring me and, you know, talk about it next. 

One particular issue I think that's important. And I think it might be I don't know about unique but it might be nearer. Is that the problem of people buying a house is not really a problem for a married couple to get a house, provided they're patient. It can be done. I've got the figures to prove it, and I have a plan devised and which I've had it calculated that investing the way I recommend on historical performances, the investment will provide, in all probability, enough money for a reasonable deposit on a house in seven years. Now you've got to be patient, but it can be done. And so you, maybe you, your children and grandchildren want to talk about it. They ring [?]  0452 596 855, costs nothing. 

Now, the next particular thing that I've spoken about, I suppose, is pensions. Did you know that a couple could be entitled to either a full pension or a part pension with concessional benefits for motor registration, etc., provided their assets are under $1 million? A very generous scheme that many might only get a pension of maybe $50 a fortnight or something. But when you look at the rebates or the concessions you get on the car registration rate, the electricity, gas, etc. heads up a couple thousand dollars so it's well worthwhile pursuing. Here again, I can give advice on that on a personal basis. 

Now, the thing is that, um, I've recently I you haven't really been a bit disappointed that I haven't had enough queries from you. So I've had to sort out to get quite dull subjects, which I think you might be interested in, and I hope I've done it, but I prefer to get all sorts of questions, either on the phone or on air or whatever. And that's it. Now, recently I read the papers myself. I read them, the people who write on investment. And there's one question that comes up fairly frequently. And people have a mortgage, a house. They also are involved with superannuation. And they they start to get ahead of the game after the age of about 3035, and it got a little bit of money. 

Now the question has been asked should they invest this either in superannuation or investment without superannuation or pay off the mortgage? I've seen various... opinions expressed on it. My own view is that the share market... is a very desirable thing as I keep coming back to. And if you are comfortable with the mortgage payout, stick with it and just let it run. In other words, you use it as a form of borrowing or gearing, and you invest your excess money in the share market, preferably in superannuation. 

Now, the real benefit of superannuation is an example. In my case, I've been involved for 40 years and it's taxation. It's just an ordinary investment with all the shares property, fixed interest, whatever. But if the taxation aspect, if you invest in shares, you normally without superannuation, you go for 20, 30, 40 years or whatever and you end up with a huge increase in investment, but it's subject to capital gains tax, whereas the superannuation for a fund that is pension mode doesn't pay tax on. 

So I myself had a case, I probably mentioned it, but I invested about ten 20,000 no more and did the airport and I was forced out by the union and but they got $457,000 tax free. And normally they hadn't been in superannuation. It probably cost me 100,000 in tax. I haven't done the calculation, but they did. So, um, my view is that if you are in a situation you, your children, grandchildren, that you, you've got the money throughout the question goes, and you're comfortable with your mortgage. Don't pay it off. Just let it run and invest it in a sensible, preferably superannuation in blue chip shares in the share market. 

1:20:32 Peter:

And if my... well, we'll leave it. There you go. That's a great summary. Now before you...

Neville:

Look forward to next year, Peter.

1:20:39 Peter:

Before you go, thank you so much for your contribution throughout the year to you and your family. Have a wonderful Christmas and we look forward to catching up with you in February.

Neville: 

I do look forward to it too. Thank you Peter, and goodbye to the listeners. Don't forget, give me a ring with any questions, any time. Bye.

1:20:54 Peter:

That's an important there. I find that scary. 0452 596 805 is Neville's number. And of course Neville's advice there is general. So if you do need to invest, then please seek some professional advice. Neville's... information there, is that, well they're Finance Facts rather than advice. So if you want to make an investment, then seek out your professional adviser - and you can contact Nev on 0452 596 805. 

We'll mention this as we get closer to Christmas, but thanks to all our tremendous, tremendous regular contributors, people like Neville who come on for the programme for absolutely nothing just because they want to contribute to community. So to Neville, thank you. We wish you a merry Christmas, and we'll give Neville a couple of months off and look forward to settling up again in February. Ah, great to have caught up with Neville again this year. And of course, if you're seeking financial advice, you can give Neville a call 0452 596 805. Or Neville's advice is general. So if you want to make an investment or want to find out more, please seek out professional support. Professional help. 

A couple of quotes before we go. Peter has taken one three. I haven't heard from Peter for a while. He sent one through. Hopefully this is okay to use. It's a little bit... well, you can judge, I guess. And there might be another appointment on the step of the boss's office at 9:00 Monday morning. And this quote comes from George Best, that tremendous, tremendous soccer player that sadly had a few foibles. George Best once said, I've earnt a lot of money. I've spent it on fast cars, women and drink. The rest of it I squandered. All right, so... it is a bit of a sad story with George because of course, he did drink too much, had to have a liver transplant, and sadly kept drinking, which meant the liver transplant didn't take, which was very, very sad. Died quite young. So. But thanks to Peter for that quote.

And something a little bit more serious that has come through from Marcy. And we appreciate Marcy's quote. Marcy says, Dignity is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. So, Marcy, thank you very much for that very sobering, important and powerful message. 

A couple of birthdays before we go. Robert Fletcher having a birthday, a wonderful tennis player in the blind and low vision category. So happy birthday to you, Robert. Also wonderful ambassador for the sport and Belinda Henley having a birthday brewed by Belinda the brew. That is true. Belinda Henley having a birthday. I know that Belinda has got something very naughty lined up for us as far as our December segment goes. When I say naughty, naughty in the sense that naughty, but also tasting very, very nice. So stand by for that in a couple of weeks time when Belinda joins us for her segment about tea. But having a birthday as well. So Belinda, thanks for all you've done this year. 

Hopefully all our regular guests will be back with us next year. Belinda, you're very much invited to be part of that as well. Hopefully you'll be back while we still got a few more players before we go, so let's not get ahead of ourselves one week at a time, as the coaches say. Thank you, Sam Rickard, for your help. Thank you, Pam Greene for yours. Reminding you as we like to do, that Leslie is available on your favorite podcast platform if you like the program. And of course you must because it's a good program. We have some great guests. Please tell a friend. Always room for one more listener. 

Speak about staying tuned, coming up very, very shortly. If you're listening through 1197 AM in Adelaide, Vicki Cousins is here with Australian Geographic. Be kind to yourselves, be thoughtful and look out for others all being well. Let's look back at the same time next week. This is Leisure Link on Vision Australia Radio.