Category: Toowoomba

Read the Alison Kennedy podcast interview TRANSCRIPT:

Andrew:
Look, hospitals in Queensland, they’re predominantly funded by the federal government, administered by the state government, but that funding quite often isn’t enough and sometimes you get funding with layers of government and there’s criteria around what can be purchased. You get those local communities, and they see a need for certain things that might be relevant specifically to that hospital to get something that is going to help them do what they do.

Andrew:
The Toowoomba Hospital Foundation is exactly like that, and according to their website, since their inception, the Toowoomba Hospital Foundation has gifted more than $11 million to the Toowoomba Hospital, Baillie Henderson Hospital and Mount Lofty Heights Nursing Home. It’s to lead better outcomes and opportunities for the staff, patients and their families. To have a chat about that, we have Alison Kennedy on the line. Alison, how are you?

Alison Kennedy:
Very well, thank you. Good morning. It’s a beautiful day in Toowoomba.

Andrew:
Terrific. Absolutely is. We also have Darrel Nicholson, he’s a Toowoomba advocate. He’s on the line and he wants to have a chat with you, Alison. Daryl, how are you?

Daryl Nicholson:
Doing well, Andrew. Thank you again for your time. Alison, I really do appreciate your time with the podcast today, and speaking of beautiful day, it’s a crack of a day [inaudible 00:01:08] at the moment, getting back into Spring. Allison thank you for coming on the show. Toowoomba Hospital Foundation was founded in 1989, and I must admit about four or five years ago, I got a little bit sick and I have to use the base hospital, and I’d known Rookas had been doing a lot of work up there for a long time. You took over from Peter Rookas in 2016. Tell us about your journey, how you came to this beautiful city and running the Toowoomba Hospital Foundation.

Alison Kennedy:
How long have you got? My husband actually was coming backwards and forwards to Toowoomba often and just loved the city itself, and he was very passionate about moving to the country and I was always like, there is no way I’m moving to the country. You’re never going to get me in the country. Then, I was looking for a new career opportunity and came across this amazing role and next minute, here we are. I was in tears, actually. I remember when the lady rang me and said, congratulations, you’ve got the role I was in absolute tears.

Alison Kennedy:
I think one of things I was nervous of taking over from somebody from 23 years of their career, and moving away from family and friends of the community that we lived in up in the Redcliffe Peninsula, but it’s been the most amazing move for my family. Even the big boys were just saying the other day how much they just love being in Toowoomba and what it’s given them as far as new prospects and family and new friends, et cetera. It’s just been extraordinary, terrific place to be.

Andrew:
Allison Kennedy, you’re the CEO of Toowoomba Hospital Foundation. Can you tell the community what is it when you have a foundation? Hospitals are seen to be heavily funded by government. What is it that the foundation can do or does do for these hospitals up in the Toowoomba area that government can’t do?

Alison Kennedy:
Sure. There’s always a budget downloaded every year, and the hospitals are given what they can and can’t spend. There’s definitely a huge gap between what they get and what they need. That’s where the hospital foundation steps in. We work very closely with the board of the Darling Downs Health Service. We have a fantastic supportive board ourselves. Each month, we get together and discuss where the pressure points are in the hospital.

Alison Kennedy:
I know at the moment, emergency department on average, we used to see about 110 people through the doors and over Christmas we’re up to about 215. At the moment, the emergency department is really feeling the pinch of looking after our community. That’s when we step in to say, right, let’s do some funding. We call it for purpose funding. We’ll run events, we’ll do some campaigns, we’ll get some workplace giving happening and really support what they need. Often, it will either be a new space, new beds, new equipment. We’ve given up to $1 million in the past for MRIs. It’s just whatever the hospital really knows that it’s going to fall behind that line of what the government is going to give them and where we can step in and really, really assist the people of our community.

Daryl Nicholson:
Alison, in 2019, I was reading an article, a record of over $1 million raised in fundraising and donations from the Toowoomba community. I mentioned that’s pretty good for you on the weekends with the many events you got to go to. I see you out and about all the time so how do you manage all that?

Alison Kennedy:
I think you just do, and I think the old saying of, if you love what you do, it’s not work. I get up every morning feeling extremely blessed to be doing what I’m doing. We have an amazing team here who all have an individual role to play, but as a team come together each week to pull together what we do. And you’re right, we have 76 events from June 30 to July 1 this year. We’re just streaming our way through them and new things pop up all the time.

Alison Kennedy:
The exciting thing is the foundation has a very, very supportive commercial business. We have the car park and the coffee shop and we’ve just opened up Baillie Henderson Cafe for the rehab unit and the patients over there and all the staff that are now working out of Baillie. That’s really exciting. With a strong commercial base, it means that 100% of the donations that are made to the foundation go directly to the cause. We do not spend a single cent on our wages, on the administration. Anything from the community, it is all gifted to the unit in which it was funded out for. That’s a really unique point of difference to most charities.

Andrew:
Alison Kennedy so being a CEO for the period of time that you’ve been, and you’ve said that you’re blessed to do what you do, what are some of the outcomes, the more personal outcomes that you’ve witnessed while you’ve been in a position?

Alison Kennedy:
It probably all comes down to the team that we’ve built, and I think the transparency in the marketplace of who we are and what our purpose is and what we do and the achievements each year. For me personally, when I started, we lived in a tiny little house up on Joy Street. We’ve now moved into a big two story building. We went from four and a half staff to 10. We’re running accommodation, we’ve got the car park, we’ve got two coffee shops now. We have seen a lot of growth in the last four years. That’s by having a very enthusiastic team that comes on my crazy journey. There’s no, we don’t need to sleep, we’ll do that later, let’s keep moving. We’ve had huge growth and it’s all really, really exciting.

Alison Kennedy:
It obviously gives opportunity for us to build our team and employ more people and be able to give others… We get a door knocked down every turn for kids to come and do work experience for us with our events or marketing, et cetera. It’s a great feeling for me personally to think, somebody had to lead that charge, but at the same time, I found really good people to come on the journey and to see the growth and to see the statistics.

Alison Kennedy:
This year we’ll give over $2 million back to the health service and then some. We’ll look more around the 13 million mark now of gifting back. This year alone, we’ll probably raise 1.3, 1.4 through donations and fundraising from our community. All of those things, they make me pretty teary and pretty happy.

Daryl Nicholson:
Speaking about being teary, Alison, I’ll read your quote, “No day is ever the same.” You said you teared up when you got the job at the Toowoomba Hospital Foundation, but on Thursday the 8th of November, Alison you’re announced as the Business Woman of the Year for the Downs. Tell us about how invigorating that was and how that made you feel.

Alison Kennedy:
I think it’s always exciting to be nominated for things such as, the Darling Downs Business Woman of the Year. Like everybody, most people, you don’t go to work to get the accolades. I’m really fortunate that I just feel blessed to come to work and to be able to do the stuff that we do, and it’s pretty exciting. Every day is different. I cry at everything, every speech, every moment in time, I cry. I’m known for crying, but it’s because I really feel after many years of doing lots of different roles and positions and stuff, this is really where I was meant to be. I think that in itself is exciting and it allows everybody to feel the passion and want to come on the journey.

Alison Kennedy:
This year alone, next year, everything is just going to continue to grow and we’ve got lots of great aspirations. We’re opening up the Darling Downs Health Museum, hopefully in the next 12 months, as well, which will be a nationally recognised museum full of artefacts from both Baillie Henderson and Toowoomba Hospital, and the outlying regional hospitals, as well, they all have small collections to contribute. Every day is different and every day we come up with something else creative that we’re going to bring to the community, so exciting times ahead.

Andrew:
Alison Kennedy, you mentioned the community. Do you need more of their support and if so, how would you like them to support you?

Alison Kennedy:
Great question, because the hospital itself, doesn’t matter how much money we raise, there’s always more things that we could contribute to them. Our community is growing. We are not a stagnant little town. People are moving to Toowoomba, and it is a great place to raise children. Unfortunately, with children and adults come accidents and sad things happen so our hospital will always need funding.

Alison Kennedy:
The other thing, the foundation has recently changed its strategic planning to actually look after all of the Darling Downs health region so all 22 hospitals within our region, and not that we’re going to go out to standup and start running events unfortunately because it’s the [inaudible 00:09:48] town, but we will definitely be looking after the bigger hospitals, and wherever they need us, we will try to assist those communities.

Alison Kennedy:
It’s twice the size of Tasmania, our region that the health service looks after. Constant help is always really appreciated. Workplace giving is something that I really encourage offices and businesses in Toowoomba to get involved in. We always need volunteers. If anyone ever wants to share some time with us, we love volunteers. Then, running events for us, it’s always great if somebody else is running an event through their own personal community groups and gifting the money to us. There’s plenty of ways, and we always just love talking to people and seeing what their passion is and tying it into what the foundation does.

Daryl Nicholson:
Outstanding. That’s excellent. 76 events this year, and I’m looking forward to the one at Rumours with Julie Bishop, Women of Strength. That’s a really great function, and unfortunately, I [inaudible 00:10:44] get the drag queen bingo, I assume you sold that out, and that’s going to quite big success I hear, next Saturday you said a week, I think.

Alison Kennedy:
The girls are like, we’re going to do some drag queen bingo. This is Toowoomba. [crosstalk 00:10:57].

Andrew:
You’re going to take us through this?

Alison Kennedy:
Extending the room and sold 250. [crosstalk 00:11:03] drag queen bingo might become a quarterly event for us with some high profile drag queens visiting Toowoomba. I think it’ll be fabulous.

Andrew:
Alison Kennedy

Daryl Nicholson:
I think you’re being creative and it’s really clever, and I’m loving the Toowoomba community, how they get together towards it, and the base hospital everyone takes their job seriously there and is accountable. I’ve been at [inaudible 00:11:21] and I’ve used surgery facilities up there three times and they’re really fantastic team up there. Thanks for your great work, Alison, and I’ll leave you to wrap up, Andrew.

Andrew:
Yeah. Allison Kennedy, thank you very much for your time. Look, if you want any more information Toowoombahospitalfoundation.org.au, check it out. There’s a couple of buttons there too that you can check out. If you do want to just give, maybe not wait for an event, hit the donate button. If you’re more interested in an event, like drag queen bingo, you can click on the events button. Allison Kennedy, thank you for spending some time with our listeners.

Alison Kennedy:
No, thank you for having us on board. It’s really appreciated. Thank you so much.

A passion for women to be able to express themselves, has been the driver behind Samantha Moir creating the group, Warrior Women.

Samantha Moir explained what the group, or tribe she created is about.

“So, I’ve really noticed just how powerful it is to have a strong network of supportive, driven cheerleaders around you – and how amazing that is and how successful you can be in your life when you really do move away from all the things that keep you stuck in that head space of like berating yourself – and being isolated with your own thoughts and with your own feelings – and just how much that can free you up when you’ve got like a strong tribe of women around you,” Samantha Moir said in the podcast interview above.

The 730 plus strong group of women discuss topics such as vaccination, motherhood, domestic violence, and being in business.

Further, the network has helped many women succeed in their ventures.

[Facebook_Page_Embed url=’https://www.facebook.com/samanthamoirofficial/’ width=’500′ height=’800′]

Read the Samantha Moir Podcast Interview TRANSCRIPT:

McCarthy-Wood: Thank you very much for your company once again, look, we chat with a lot of different people and people that get in and support different parts of the community. Women are very, very important when it comes to our community and the empowerment and we have somebody that is getting right behind them, her name is Samantha Moir. She’s on the line. Samantha, how are you?

Samantha Moir: I’m great. Thank you so much for having me today.

McCarthy-Wood: Yeah, no dramas. Now, first thing I’m going to do is dial Daryl Nicholson in because he’s lined up this interview, you’re also on the line. Daryl, how are you going?

Daryl Nicholson: Ah mate, happy and joyful. I’m doing really good and really looking forward to having a chat with Sam about what she does as Sam the Warrior Woman, so let’s get into it, mate. Sam, welcome along, how are you?

Samantha Moir: I’m great Daryl, so great to chat with you.

Daryl Nicholson: Oh good. Yeah, we’ve caught up just recently outside [inaudible 00:00:50] up at [inaudible 00:00:51] International and we’ve had time to spend together. But tell us a bit [inaudible 00:00:55] what you’ve built, Warrior Women tribe, you’re passionate about women expressing them true selves. And there’s a few other things I want to talk about along the way but talk about how you came about where you are at the moment and what you’re doing.

Samantha Moir: Well look Daryl, I have always been really, really passionate about women, even just on the individual level. We’ve all got sisters and best friends and really coming just from myself. So, I’ve really noticed just how powerful it is to have a strong network of supportive driven cheerleaders around you and how amazing that is and how successful you can be in your life when you really do move away from all the things that keep you stuck in that head space of like berating yourself and being isolated with your own thoughts and with your own feelings and just how much that can free you up when you’ve got like a strong tribe of women around you. And yeah, I’ve created it basically because it was what I felt I needed in the world and if I need it, there’s other women out there who are really searching for it as well.

Daryl Nicholson: That’s brilliant. And Andrew, crow in anytime you like, mate. Sam and I, I’ve been following her for a long, long time and I got on the bus ride of a lifetime with Tim Stokes, we went down to help enterprises in Brisbane and that’s when I met Sam and I was actually their camera man for live stream and Sam’s also passionate about disability as well, and just you throw in any questions you’ve got and see where you want to go with-

McCarthy-Wood: Yes, Samantha, for your group, the tribe that you brought together, what are some of the main things that you’ve got out of it? Because quite often when you give to these things, it’s amazing some of those things that you don’t really expect to come back out of such a venture.

Samantha Moir: I’ve really been humbled and honoured to be able to be surrounded by so many diverse women and just that within itself, being able to hold a space and be part of a space that allows women to just authentically speak without the fear of judgement . I hold a lot of strength in that group for the women not projecting their own issues and just allowing women to talk about where they’re at so they can hold opinions and they can really use that space to vent or to rant or to share or to celebrate. But it’s a space that has really allowed them to be themselves without the attacks or just the detriment to their own expression.
So, it’s been really amazing. I get a lot out of that, being able to really hear women. I feel like empathy is a strength that needs to be, everyone should be leaning into that a lot more and being able to hear so many different women and their stories and the reason why they’re passionate about certain things. And being able to really boil it down to those basics and go, “We’re all just trying to live our best lives. We’re all just trying to do what’s best for our families. We all make our own individual choices and we can support each other for those individual choices and still be really strong in our own and supportive of each other without it being a place for competition.”
So it’s been really great to really see how supportive women are and we’ve tackled and talked about some really big topics from vaccination to motherhood and all the different choices that we’ve made along the way. And when Facebook used to still have the live interview option, we would be sitting there talking about some quite deep topics that most people on the internet will try and stay away from. And the understanding from everybody and being able to hear different opinions from each other and still respect and support each other has really just reiterated to me just how amazing women can be when they’re all just really willing to hear each other and really be there for each other through all the different things that we’re going through in our lives.

McCarthy-Wood: Samantha, how many women have you got involved in your group?

Samantha Moir: I’ve got about 730 women.

McCarthy-Wood: Wow.

Samantha Moir: The majority of those are coming out of the Toowoomba Darling Downs space, but they are people that I’ve met along the way. There’s some from Brisbane and Melbourne and Perth and Sydney. I’ve got a few from overseas that I know. But yeah, the majority are coming out from the Toowoomba Darling Downs region. So, they’re all in different walks of life, but all are kind of coming together to really support each other.

McCarthy-Wood: And having different walks of life and then coming together, what are some of the things as a group that you’ve accomplished that maybe affect the community?

Samantha Moir: I think even just having the title of Warrior Women and where that sits with the women, it gives them that fire and that fierceness to, because they’re supported, whether it’s silently or just in the online space, they’re able to really use that kind of “stereotype” to really lean in and step into going after the things they want, putting their best foot forward, being more confident, really being the warrior woman in their own life, not hanging back on the sidelines and really putting themselves first.
So, being able to see the growth and the constant expansion in how they view themselves and how the more they’re accepting themselves and accepting the group, the more they’re actually going after what they want. So, we’re seeing residually, women starting their own businesses, women being able to just speak about where they’re at more and really talking about their own mental health struggles or anxiety or the pressures that they feel or things that have been going on. They’re really able to step in and use that title of Warrior Women to armour themselves with the confidence to step forward and speak their truth and feel like they’ve got a whole tribe of women behind them. So it just gives them that support, whether it’s in person or online to really go after the things that they want and going after it with that fierce and confident attitude as well.

McCarthy-Wood: And you mentioned that you’ve had some robust conversations where it may be about vaccination or any other sort of issues. As a group, do you generally find that in time and you have that conversation, the group kind of leans on a position or a place where everybody subscribes to that?

Samantha Moir: I think they definitely all have their own opinion, and that’s totally fine. That’s the whole thing of that acceptance is that when we can hear other people’s opinion within that group and still support them and high five them for coming up and speaking about it… Those conversations have been really enlightening to me to see what it’s like when you have women who are really feeling strong in themselves that other people may land, but there’s not a huge divide because it’s more about they’re connecting with the woman who’s sharing the story or sharing their opinion and because they’re open, they’re not feeling defensive about being right or wrong, they’re just open to sharing what they believe and what they’ve seen and where they land on something. Then the other women don’t feel the need to go in there and be combative or looking for conflict because then they can put forward their stuff and that’s ultimately how people learn, is other people being able to share their points of view and experience without it going to that place of it being like, “Who wins the argument?” It’s more about we’re all contributing to the conversation.

McCarthy-Wood: Yeah, because that’s fascinating. It sounds like you would have conversations that are so broad and diverse, like you mentioned vaccination, that would be a fascinating conversation for women that are living and breathing it, that have had different experiences, and then it sounds like you could be having almost within the same conversation talking about launching a business as a woman. I’d like to explore some of those. So, for the vaccination one, how did that go?

Samantha Moir: So I just kind of put a post out while I was in that group going, “Look, I want to talk about this and it’s not to prove to everyone that we can talk about these topics without it being a complete derailment of the sisterhood itself.” So I had a nurse who came in and spoke from her experience and the things that she’s seen and gone through on the grassroots level in her work and seeing the effects that vaccination and non-vaccination has had on children. And then we had someone else who came in on the opposing side who was talking about her choice as to why she hasn’t vaccinated her children. And I interviewed them separately but you wouldn’t have known where I sat in the middle of the conversation, which was really good.
So, they were just really open to sharing and obviously you have to put your disclaimer on there going, “This is not a space for arguments or justifying your own life choices, this is just listening to how people get to where they get to.”

McCarthy-Wood: To get involved.

Samantha Moir: And they all really shared. Yeah. And it was beautiful, then because we had them a day apart, everyone kind of went and sat with it for a little bit. And because there was a person speaking about it, they weren’t vilifying the idea of either for or against, they were listening to the person and their experience and because they were leading with empathy and understanding, they found it a lot easier to hear the information rather than just attacking the idea. So, they really got to sit there and have these really informed conversations and educating themselves, even if it was just understanding how the opposing side to their opinion came to that point. They were able to really put a face to the story rather than it just being a opinion just thrown out there in that cold-

McCarthy-Wood: Yeah. And for you observing this, what was your sense? Where do you think the group got to having heard both sides of the argument and then forming some sort of a view on it?

Samantha Moir: Yeah, they were really amazing because people that probably were too… One of the biggest takeaways that I took from it was people were engaging in the conversation. They were actually talking to each other, where the biggest thing was, “Oh, this is a big topic, Sam, I don’t know if you want to touch it. I don’t want to respond because I feel like I’m going to be attacked or this is just not what we do.” And that was the biggest thing. People were having a conversation about something that they have seen publicly that you just don’t talk about and able to actually sit here each other.
So the takeaway was, for me in watching that and where they sat and how they got to there was just watching people being able to communicate freely, just freely without the fear of offending each other because they sat so strongly in where they were, but they were so supportive of each other that they couldn’t go to that place of attacking them because these people were then engaging in conversations after the fact with each other on a personal level or online amongst themselves and asking like, “How did you get to that? Why do you think that? Can you share that information on how you got to that point?” But they were both sharing it back and forth and it was them being able to engage in that conversation fully with each other without feeling the need to double down on their point feeling under attack to prove who was good, bad, right, or wrong. So it was really amazing

McCarthy-Wood: When it comes to business, are there are enough women in business?

Samantha Moir: I think there’s enough women in business who want to be in business, right? I think that’s the whole thing about choice is that we’re in a really lucky and amazing time that women have the opportunity to go and create businesses if they so choose. There’s no pressure for them to do it either way. So, they can be fully supported in creating businesses, but if that’s not what they… Because I think it’s gone down a road at the moment where entrepreneurship is the new buzz thing. It’s the new trend and a lot of women have gone into that, doing their own kind of business and working to that standard, but it’s not working for them. So I’m kind of like-

McCarthy-Wood: Well you make a really, really interesting point. I’d love you to chat to it. Daryl, I can you’ve got a couple of questions there, but if I can just find out about this just quickly. You mentioned entrepreneurship and quite often just by the sound of it, it sounds quite isolated. It’s a single person going and taking the world on, creating businesses. Are you essentially saying that with tribe you can go step out, become a businessperson, maybe in a sense of being an entrepreneur without the connotations of doing that by yourself? You’ve got a tribe that’s behind you?

Samantha Moir: Absolutely, and with you, not only just for entrepreneurship, but everything that that entails. If you’re following your passion in creating a business around what you love doing and you’re really in that, it is definitely isolating. So having that tribe of women who are supporting you because there’s always going to be an issue of balance for every person, whether they have their own business or they’re working, they’re still going to be balancing out relationships, their own time, time with their children, time with their friends. So, they’re still going to be constantly battling that bliss point of trying to find the balance of being isolated to concentrate and focus and be about their own mission, but also connecting up with the communities around them to really share what they’re about and contributing that way too.
So, when you have people behind you who aren’t telling you what you should or shouldn’t do and just allowing you to do as you feel and do it the way that you feel drawn to do it in whatever context that is, when you’ve got people just supporting you for doing and living your best life, then the isolation doesn’t have to be a problem. And also just the segregation for most points in their lives as well. You’re able to really lean in on each other and find the mothers groups if you’re a woman with children who’s got your own business. Excuse me, and to go and spend time with them but also making friends or enhancing business relationships. There’s a support for you if you’re open to it and also kind of willing to support other women within that as well. You really get back what you put in, not only cheat community but with your tribes as well. The more support you want is the more support you should be giving.

Daryl Nicholson: That’s right Andrew, and we’ve talked about technology and that sort of stuff now and the reason why I wanted to get Sam, if I can go back and we always go back to your mother. My mother was born in Ireland in 1928, she immigrated with the Australian ambassador in 1956, came to Canberra. She met dad and they got married in 1964, she became virtually, she was an immigrant from Dublin. She became over time, I guess a widow based on the army because Dad had went to Vietnam. Then he came back, he went to [inaudible 00:16:31] and he was tied up with the sergeant’s mess. And she spent a lot of time lonely at home and she didn’t have these sort of resources. And she was dictated too, by my father at times. She had no driver’s licence, she had no independence.
And every time I do these podcasts. I’m getting goosebumps again and getting a bit teary, but I just wish this sort of stuff was around for mum at this time. And I’m urging anyone who might be an immigrant to Australia who’s lonely, who’s maybe in a marriage that is not holding together and they’re a bit lost, to jump on with Sam and to just find some, express yourself. And there’s other organisations [inaudible 00:17:09] and of course homelessness for women now, I mean women over 50 have got more chance of being homeless at the moment and that’s really sad and I just think Sam is the Warrior Woman and I love her to bits.

McCarthy-Wood: Yeah, Sam, Daryl just mentioned homelessness and women and we have done a podcast interview just a couple of months ago where that’s what came out of it is that the biggest sector at risk is actually women that arrive at that 40, 50 mark becoming homeless. What’s your organisation doing in relation to that? Is that a subject that you’ve looked at yet?

Samantha Moir: I haven’t particularly, from my end in the organisation because I do work with women who have experienced domestic violence as well. But I haven’t looked at the… I mean I’m 100% of any which way that I can support women and whether that’s in disability, homelessness, addiction, any which way that supports women in being able to feel happy, safe, and free, and healthy, I’m all for it. I’m definitely in support for the places like Pretty Place out here in Toowoomba. And it’s definitely something, like with domestic violence, the statistics for homelessness sky rocket when they’re entangled with domestic or family violence. So being able to, for anybody, because look, homelessness is not one of those things that has this formula, it doesn’t discriminate, but it also can happen to anyone. You just need a downturn, you just need to be out of a job for a little while. It’s something that can, and has happened to so many people with no fault of their own, just circumstantial.
So it’s one of those things that even though we’d like to think that we’re safe and it’s definitely something that can and has affected people just by different situations playing out outside of their control that has landed them in that position, they’re not opting in to have that. So it’s kind of really, again, like leaning in with that empathy and going, you may not be able to support up front and centre, but if you’ve got spare toiletries, go and just donate them. Thinking that this is not just their problem or a problem that the government or the council needs to fix, this is all about problem on anything in a community level because we all could be subject to hard times in our life. We could all be subject to issues that play out that are outside of our control that we are directly affected by.
And the more that, and like I said earlier, the more support we give is the more support that we receive back. And if we have a community of women and people generally that are feeling supported and that are being locally supported, the more they’re going to be willing to talk as well from their experience so that we can actually find solutions. If everyone is in isolation in these individual problems, we’re going to have all this experience and understanding of how these problems are created and solved at the same time.

McCarthy-Wood: Yeah. Samantha, you talked about finding solutions. You’ve also talked about domestic violence. Has there been a conversation within the group as to how, as a society, we’ve found ourselves in a situation where the statistics around domestic violence are just horrific. They’re disgusting. They’re a real concern. They don’t show any signs at this stage of turning around, albeit there’s a lot of conversations being had. There’s a lot of organisations and people, individuals and groups of people that are talking about it and and doing some practical things like putting places of refuge in place and whatever else. Has there been just an open and frank conversation in your group as to domestic violence, what it looks like and how it can be fixed?

Samantha Moir: We definitely talk about it because I’ve done so much work for women in domestic violence and, kind of always been that cheerleader and supporter for women, these situations do come up more than they don’t. Most women that I’ve spoken to have been in or have seen or experienced in their life abusive behaviour, whether it is financial, emotional, sexual, verbal, they have been in contact or have experienced something, whether in their upbringing or in their relationships that they’re currently in. So there’s definitely not a one size fits all solution. However, going forward, all we can do is… For me the solution at its very, very basic form and obviously there’s a whole web of different issues like addiction, being exposed to it as a child, low self esteem on both sides, the inability to make choices due to financial inability to kind of reach financial resources, having the support around them being limited, being educated of what’s available to them, being educated on what is a good healthy relationship.
There’s so many different variables in how people end up. And again it’s something else that doesn’t discriminate. The CEO can be going through domestic violence, the same as somebody who is experiencing homelessness. It does not discriminate and it’s definitely not a one size fits all. But for me at its absolute basic message for me is, speak to people and be willing to listen. It’s very, because as soon as people feel that safe space to be able to speak about something that doesn’t feel right to them intuitively, every woman is born with this amazing ability to intuitively understand what’s going on around them and really feel when they’re not safe and they know that.
But if they feel judged on talking about that, if we’re holding judgement on this level of perfectionism because like I said, there’s so many different variables, but if we’re looking at social media of having this perfectionist life and everything being amazing and rosy and shiny, and then your life isn’t reflecting what you’re seeing back or this expectation, the likelihood of people to share that maybe the marriage they’re in is not working for them anymore. Maybe the relationship that they’re in isn’t reflecting back whether they instantly are going to internalise that to think that they’re failing and when somebody fails, we have so many stereotypes and we vilify people and we have this social media culture where it’s, go, go, go, everyone has to succeed, succeed, succeed.
As soon as they get to that point where they’re feeling like they’re failing at something, they’ve already halved their thought process around reaching out to someone saying, “I’m not doing well. I’m not doing this perfectly. I don’t have this beautiful structured life that everyone else has. It must be me.” And if they’re not talking about it and there’s no one there willing to listen, like I’ve said earlier, there’s no way to actually find a solution because as soon as somebody can speak about the problem, then you can get the ball rolling on the how it happened, what we need to do to fix it, what we can do to support. But no one can help you or anyone else around you until you speak about it.
But also no one is going to speak to you if you’re not willing to listen. Without even needing to swoop in straight away to fix the problem, just being able to hold space for anyone who is in your community, no matter what’s going on and actually sitting down and just allowing them time to get that problem that’s circulating within them, outside of themselves, they tend to be able to hear it and understand it better. But we have to, at its most basic level, be able to hold and have those conversations. And the more we’re leaning into social media and the more that we’re leaning into being more isolated or being too busy or filling our lives with things that we deemed super important, but we’re moving away from community connection and empathy, the harder it’s going to be to actually be able to have those conversations.
So yeah, for me, the basic, at its very basic level, everyone needs to actually be able to sit and listen to somebody and being able to be courageous enough to speak about it. And we all have to practise that and lead by example for the people that are stronger, we need to show each other that it’s okay to be open and honest about where we are because it allows other people to, by that leading by example, it allows other people to reach out when they’re going through their stuff as well.

McCarthy-Wood: Yeah. Samantha for somebody that may or may not be experiencing domestic violence, for somebody that may or may not be wanting to start a business, for somebody that may or may not be considering, they may or may not be a young mum wanting to understand vaccination a bit more, for somebody that may or may not want to draw from other people’s experiences, or maybe they’re a CEO of a company and they want to share their experiences, how do they find out more about your organisation?

Samantha Moir: Okay, so they can find me across the major social media platforms. So they can go over to Facebook and find my Facebook page, just Samantha Moir. You can find it in there. Or head over to Instagram, that’s @samanthamoir_ and find me there or just simply go over to samanthamoir.com and all the social links are listed in there. And if you follow me, you’ll see all the supporting links to be able to enter you into that Facebook group with the 730 women to be able to connect with everyone. Just PM me, just send me an email or send me a private message or a direct message on social media. I’m always up for listening to people. I’m always up to being able to redirect you to the people if you, for any which reason needing some help or some support, just reach out.
I want to have that kind of open door policy online of, just come and find me and chat about it and if I can’t help you, I may know someone that can. And just getting in there and just really getting back to that basic conversation again. So if anyone is going through anything like that, whether it’s just in their personal life or they are going through domestic violence or they are wanting to start a business or they’re just wanting to connect with women, just reach out to me and I will help you in whichever form that I can.

McCarthy-Wood: Yeah. Daryl, anything else you want to explore?

Daryl Nicholson: No mate, look, I’ve talked to Samantha about this previously. She said I could do an hour long podcast, I could do a two hour long podcast-

McCarthy-Wood: You sound like you’re setting a challenge here.

Samantha Moir: Challenge accepted.

Daryl Nicholson: And as I said to Andrew, I think it would be interesting for Jody to maybe touch base with Sam some time and explore more woman to woman. I don’t know. We’ll leave that up to Jody.

McCarthy-Wood: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so, you’re across the country, Samantha, what about for those, maybe we might have some New Zealand people listening to this, you open to around the world?

Samantha Moir: Definitely, definitely.

McCarthy-Wood: I thought you would be.

Samantha Moir: Because I’m always up for supporting women just being themselves, just totally cheering them on for making whatever choice it is for themselves.

Daryl Nicholson: Yep, good stuff.

McCarthy-Wood: Samantha Moir, thank you very much for your time with our listeners.

Samantha Moir: Thank you for having me, guys. It was such a great morning to have a chat with you.

Goolburri Aboriginal Health Advancement CEO, Lizzie Adams has announced she will be running as a candidate for the Toowoomba Regional Council in the 28 March 2020 election.

The mother who has been involved in Aboriginal affairs since she was 17, says she will stand on a platform of giving ‘a voice to the most vulnerable and disadvantaged people of the community of Toowoomba’.

“So if you want your voice heard, I’m your girl and I’ll say it how it is,” Lizzie Adams said in the podcast interview.

“I won’t sugar coat it.

“I won’t go in and change their words to suit, you know, some other jargon or what I think should be best said.

“And that’s the honesty that I bring.”

Lizzie Adams also discussed some of the challenges she and her family had faced, including the affects of drug addiction on her daughter.

She also took a shot at the Toowoomba mayor for not having enough engagement with the Aboriginal community.

Read the Lizzie Adams interview TRANSCRIPT

Andrew: Thank you very much for your company. Look, it is the end of 2019, but right as soon as next year starts, the first thing that we’ll be looking at in Queensland is the local government elections. So a lot of candidates have been putting their hand up, indicating that they do want to stand and be counted when it comes to the elections in March, and that is true of Lizzie Adams. She’s putting her hand up for the Toowoomba Regional Council. To have a chat with her, she is on the line, but we’ll say good day to Daryl Nicholson first because he’s flagged this interview and he’s got a passion for the Toowoomba region. We call him the Toowoomba advocate. Daryl, how are you?

Darryl: Going very well, Andrew. Good morning. Thanks for doing this hookup today with Lizzie. Hi, Lizzie. How are you today?

Lizzie Adams: Good thanks, Daryl. How are you? Hi, Andrew.

Darryl: Good.

Andrew: Good to chat with you both. And Daryl, you’ve been following the Toowoomba region for quite some time. There have been some that have put their hand up quite some time ago and now you’re really starting to see the candidates step up and say, “Yep, I want to give it a go.” How did this come on your radar for Lizzie Adams?

Darryl: Okay, well I ran into Lizzie about 12 months ago at Rumours International and she sort of hinted about it, that she was going to run. But I first met her in 2018 that time with Berneigh. We were on the streets raising money for homelessness in Toowoomba with Nat [inaudible 00:01:26]. And it’s funny, I ran into Nat on Saturday and he said, “Daryl, who’s running for Council?” And I said, “Well, Lizzie’s put her hand up and I’m interviewing her on Monday.”
So Lizzie, welcome to the show. Do appreciate your time. You’re the CEO of Goolburri Aboriginal Health Advancements. You’ve been doing that for 15 years. And I’m going to talk about some other things as well, but tell us about your role at Goolburri and what you do.

Lizzie Adams: Yeah. So I came to Toowoomba in 2004 to take up the role of CEO. So I’ve been there 15 years. When we first came in, and no accolades to myself, it’s always a team effort. We’ve actually grown the organisation within, not just the Toowoomba region, but the Ipswich and the South West Queensland in service delivery from health services and social services.

Darryl: Yep. Okay.

Andrew: Yeah. Look, so… You can go for it, Daryl. I’ve got heaps of questions as well, but I-

Darryl: No worries.

Andrew: … definitely want to hear what you want to chat with Lizzie about because this is what democracy is all about. People putting their hand up and saying, “We want to have a go.”

Lizzie Adams: That’s right.

Darryl: That’s right. Originally, why did you come to Toowoomba? What made you come to Toowoomba? I want to find out what beckoned you to this beautiful city.

Lizzie Adams: Well, I come from a nursing background, Daryl, and I’ve been involved in Aboriginal affairs since the young age of 17. And when the opportunity arose, and my two boys in particular were still in primary and one going to high school. So we thought they were good sports people, so giving them an opportunity also. So we moved to Toowoomba for that reason but also to a bit of a career pathway for myself to get up and make a difference on a different level because I was very active in the Charleville community where I was born in Kalamata but lived all my life in Charleville.
I was very active in the community and I’m very community-minded. They were nursing in particular. I could see that ill health of our people. So Hoover gave me that opportunity. And to be able to come down and to grow it from a dental service, which is what we originally funded for, into social services, which takes in the child protection continuum, aged care, early learning. With our HIPPY programme, we have a [inaudible 00:03:50] programme, healing and wellbeing services. It’s just keeps growing.
And I’m very proud to say that we’re one of the bigger employers of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander people. 90% of our employees across the region are of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent. We have probably five to 10 professional non-indigenous workers who are just great. So just providing good health, social inclusion, all that stuff, but also opportunity around the employment, which is a struggle that I’ve said in one of the other interviews that I know what it’s like to not be able to get a after school job. So by providing people with opportunity. But we also serve as non-indigenous community, and in particular, the low socio community of Toowoomba in particular in our business-based GP model. So we don’t get funded for our GP services like most AMSs do, Aboriginal health services do. Yeah, and it’s the multicultural community it is. And we do have other cultures that come there too. So I thought putting my hand up, I can give a voice to the most vulnerable and disadvantaged people of the community of Toowoomba, you know?

Darryl: That’s beautiful. Andrew, go to your question and ask what you were going to.

Andrew: Yeah. You say you’re putting your hand up, you want to be a counsellor for across the Toowoomba region. And you’ve just mentioned that you see yourself as being a voice, for as you say, the most vulnerable. What about for the whole region, what are some of the issues that you see that need to be tackled as an incoming counsellor?

Lizzie Adams: Look, I’m not going to lie to the constituents out there. You know, I’m not up to scratch with your Siri junior housing and your roads and all that stuff. But, you know, my passion is a community’s voice. So it doesn’t matter which area for the region that you want to be heard, I just want to guarantee that they will be heard. So whether it’s small business lads, large business, agricultural, anything like that, if I don’t know it, I will get the expertise to inform me as such. And I will take that voice to the table.

Andrew: Yeah. Let’s see. What are some of the immediate things that you think need to be tackled? The things that you do know, look, let’s put aside some of them, maybe the infrastructure, things like sewage and water and all of that sort of stuff because it’s actually may bring a very different dimension to the conversation. That is what has been discussed. Everybody’s talking about water at the moment. Darryl and I have been talking about it to great extent. But what are some of the social issues that you see that are being elected as a counsellor that you can get in and tackle?

Lizzie Adams: But Andrew, I really honestly think it’s council can be the influence, you know, while it’s not the funded business that distributes from, you know, from your federal and the state stuff. But when you look at your housing in particular, and then Darrell mentioned the homeless night in our land. Until you do that and you see the real stuff off of you, you don’t actually appreciate what you’ve got. And that was a big learning for me. I’m actually involved in the trauma women’s collective with Protea Place. You know, the numbers in the services that we’re doing at that level with the homeless women is unbelievable. And a lot of that stuff then leads to employment.
You know, people think people just want to do work for the doll or sit on welfare and that stuff. But no, that’s not true. You know, it’s around giving people opportunity. If you give people opportunity, they can then make the choices they need. Because I’m around the training and employment stuff in particular, let’s not tell them what they need to train in. You know, it’s no good saying, okay, we’re going to run a, for example, what I’ve seen in the past, we’re going to run a [inaudible 00:07:50] culture through the council. Well, you know, if that’s not what the people want, they might want to train in health or nursing or you know, it’s around that stuff. It’s listening to the people, what they want to train in and help. There’s always going to be sick people around. There’s always going to be homeless people around if we don’t fix the housing industry.
You know, my personal experience with my family and my daughter has given me permission to speak about around the drug use in, in Toowoomba. We’re a pretty close knit family, a strong family and as you know with the death of our son, that actually brings in a bit of more strength and resilience for myself. So we did the [inaudible 00:08:35] daughter, you know, we found that for her to do rehab or anything like that, she had to leave the community. Now I think Toowoomba was a big enough region or regional town to be able to focus on getting a detox centre in Toowoomba or a rehab centre in Toowoomba because it’s not for everybody, and from my learnings, if I could have had some respite, you know, my children, my husband, and I, we did around the clock for like 72 hours. If I had been a bit of respite maybe it could have been a faster process. But yeah, it’s addressing those needs and being inclusive, you know.

Andrew: Lizzie you consistently come back to talking about employment and I have this conversation with lots of different groups and organisations and individuals. Can you take us through in your experience somebody that is coming from a place where maybe they haven’t had as greater opportunities as you would like, but you take them on a journey where they become educated and then they ultimately become employed. Can you take a story to benefit that there are to that individual to the community and then also to the country?

Lizzie Adams: Yep. So, you know, my belief is, and my drive through my position as [inaudible 00:09:55] and whatever capacity that I may be in the community, is that, you know, we try and encourage us feel by supremacists. So we’re starting at an early age to start educating our people that, you know, to work, let’s set up some work ethics. That’s going to be a reason to get up in the morning. You know, not everything is for free in life. And you know, otherwise, if they were adults in the community or youth in the community, you know, we employ them off the street because we’re giving them a reason to get up every day to provide for their families. You know, and then when you look at the domestic violence, so it gets that domino effect. So then the domestic violence coming in because they’re used to providing for their family, but they, because there’s no employment, they’re no longer providing for their families.
So it gives them self-worth if they’ve got a job. And it doesn’t matter how little or how big it is, you know, my belief is I don’t really care how many letters or numbers you got behind your name. We’re all here for the same reason, in providing a service. But, you know, give the people the opportunity from whether it’s a trainee ship, whether it’s, you know, but it’s got to be something that’s ongoing.
So what we do around, I do it, Tom Gilbrey, he ran the school based apprentices in particular, is that if we can’t give them employment after their two year training, we see them as preparing them for the workforce. So instead of them having to go to Tay for, to go and do some training to be able to get a job, they’re already skilled. So, you know, and we’ve had great success.
We’ve had 50 plus trainees and school bases come through Gilbrey and you know, one young non-indigenous girl who couldn’t get a job, nobody wanted her. So we took her on and you know, she’s been all over the country. She’s international, she’s, you name it, she’s done it. We’ve had a young girl going into the private sector around dental, in particular, young people picking up administration jobs, you know, so it’s around that and for the economy, it’s got to be a happiest community. People are investing their money back into the community that they’re working for. So, you know, it’s about getting a little bit smarter in how we do business instead of just keep doing the red trick of, you know, we think this is a great idea. Pull the people in. What would you like to, you know, moving forward in a position.

Andrew: Yeah. [Crosstalk 00:12:15] Go for Daryl.

Darryl: Yeah. Lizzie, so I was watching her on channel seven. They did a story on her, but she just said she wants to listen to the residents and give people a voice. And I think, you know, this next council election, this is what’s going to be happening. The Toowoomba people really want to be heard. And people like Lizzie. And I’ve spoken to a couple of the other candidates that are running. They’re getting out there first and they’re going to do the old theory of keeping their mouth shut and opening their ears, and listening to what the community is saying and then I’ll think they’ll start talking more in generally where they’re going. So a lot of what you’re doing there in your community as an advocate and what are you hearing from the community so far in your early days and timing?

Lizzie Adams: Yeah, and it’s around that stuff. It’s just being heard and the common sense approaches, you know, it’s around, and look, I’m not here to beat up on any counsellors, but it’s around being seen but not only for special occasions, you know, and if I’m honest, you know, there’s a few counsellors that I probably don’t even know. And I’ve been in the community for 15 years, one of the biggest employers of Aboriginal Trust that aren’t the people. And you know, unless I’m at a function, nobody’s been to see me, nobody’s asked us. And look, I’m not a self, the kind leader in the Toowoomba, but I step up because I can see what’s happening.
And like I said on the interview with channel seven, the seven news, you know, I made a difference, when we had, you know, the day of the Memorial Foundation five year anniversary, [inaudible 00:13:59] which we are very, very thankful for. And I’d offer three, you know, and I basically just said, there’s nothing black about this council. You know, there’s no real engagement. And I asked the question, you know, as most non-indigenous organisation to do, government or NGO, have a rap plan. I said, do you have a rep plan? They said, no.

Andrew: Can you tell us what that acronym means?

Lizzie Adams: Oh, sorry. Yeah. Yep. So that, that’s a plan that’s saying out of the particular organisation is going to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Andrew: Reconciliation has been a big subject for 2019 it has been for a long time, but has been a lot of talk around about it. With a council how do you see true reconciliation happening?

Lizzie Adams: Well that’s around the true engagement, Andrew. You know, it’s not about having, you know, like I said, no disrespect to Mayor Paul Antonio, but you know, I said to him one day, I said, so Paul, I’d really love to catch up with you, let you know what Hillary is doing, you know, some of the aspirational stuff that I’d like to see happen. And it was said, I will, the mayor has a half hour session with every neutral side on the people once a month on a Monday. And I said, okay, yeah, so how do I get in to do that? Oh, you just did this, this, this and this. But what are you going to what are you going to talk about in half an hour?

Andrew: Well, Darryl let’s give Lizzie the opportunity now you want to talk about some of the aspirational things that you want to see happen. You’ve got this platform. Take it away. Tell the world what aspirational things you want to see happen.

Lizzie Adams: Well, I mean it’s around that the true engagement. So you know where I was alluding to was that also out of that meeting with the four counsellor, was that to come up with the an advisory and everyone starts out on that advisory committee to council, which has now been successfully implemented. And look, I think that is the biggest step, but it’s still, the aspirations for Toowoomba as a community is giving recognition to those who may bring the solution to the table.

Andrew: Yep. Yep.

Lizzie Adams: You know what I mean? So if we’re talking around, you know, and I’m not just using the black card here, I’m for the whole community because like I said, I see not the, none of the [inaudible 00:16:27] people. They don’t fit in their own society. So that’s why they come up and lean over towards Aboriginal on this stuff. That’s why they come to our GP services and in our mental health services. So it’s around the thing, police and stuff. Let’s do something that’s fading from.

Andrew: You mentioned inclusive to be truly inclusive of everybody. Do you think that it’s the is really designed for, it doesn’t matter who you are, so long as you’ve got purpose, you’ve got education and you’ve got a job where you can actually be a fair contributor to the society. Is that what you’re getting? Is that what you say?

Lizzie Adams: Yes, yes. You know, and also around the, it’s around being true to, you know, a virtual community. So yes, we do have drug issues in Toowoomba. Yes, we do have domestic violence issue. Yes, we do have child protection issues in the community, but hey, how are we going to work together? To reduce the over representation because Toowoomba is one of the leading regions and through the child protection arena, DBs on the growth for everybody.

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah. That’s true, isn’t it? Domestic violence. We have been involved in quite a few, both Darryl and myself sometimes together, sometimes individually in different organisations and events where domestic violence, the outcomes that we’re experiencing the statistics, I think Darryl and I were talking about it a little while ago, we just can’t get our head around, just have bad they are. The domestic violence, you’ve touched on that. So your view is very much get the country working and to some degree that’s going to help that, yeah?

Lizzie Adams: Yeah. And, he proper investment to get it happening. So you know, how many good people out there who we can provide some free training for around DV, around the drugs, who we were going to be readily available for the likes of myself when I needed some respite or the likes of a family who is struggling, you know, let’s do some of that real training for the real issues. And if you’ve got proper investment for it. And if it’s not the counsel’s issue around the investment or let’s use the interference of the council to get the investment from the people we needed from.

Andrew: Yeah, but can we just take you in a different direction just for a moment. We like going down to the national multicultural festival is held in Canberra every year. I absolutely love that event. It’s one of those events that as we’re leaving it, because it’s coming to a close for that year, we’re quite sad and just really excited about getting back there for the next year. It’s probably actually one of the events each year that we most look forward to and there’s a bunch of reasons for that, but one of those is the amazing sense of immersion into culture, true multiculturalism where it doesn’t matter whether the Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander, Irish, and I could just rattle them off around the world, but they come together and they really, it appears like they assimilate. You can walk from one store to the next and try foods from different places and there was some really, really good representation from the Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander communities up on stage just showing off. They had cultures.
For the Toowoomba region, if you were to be a counsellor, what are some of the cultural events and maybe even things like artwork that would be around the place, does your vision for Toowoomba and what it might look like from a cultural perspective?

Lizzie Adams: I think it needs to be just not once a year. For example, the NEDA. I think, you know, it needs to be ongoing, not just randomly. And if I may, I, my understanding is that, you know, [inaudible 00:20:26] together and we did the, the Cobb and Co museum led lighting, which got, you know, a couple of our artists and they did two beautiful pieces. Now why isn’t that displayed in one of the prominent areas in Toowoomba? Because you know, it’s sitting on my toe, the Gallberry one, it’s sitting on my shelf. I don’t know where Cobble is sitting theirs, but why aren’t they displayed at the airport? Like I think was the original intent so that people step off, they look out and they go, Oh look, that’s that Aboriginal services here. They work in collaboratively with their, you know, first nations people.
So it’s got to be an ongoing promotion, engagement and all of that stuff. Not just the one or four, you know, like you’re saying the big one in Canberra or the one that they had in Queens Park in Toowoomba or the natives, you know, because we’re all burned out in say four to six weeks all trying to do the NEDAs because we’ll want to do a good job and promote, you know, our culture for what it is. But why do we have to do it just then. Why can’t Toowoomba come together and say, you know, once a month, you know, we’ve got traditional dancers in there and these young fellows, a young business people who’ve set these dance groups up, their training the younger kids that come through the language, all that stuff, we use it only a one off that education takes, on the language part of stuff. You know, it’s not a cherry picking our culture for Blaine region arts and then you know and wherever else something may fit, it’s inclusive again. So all of those things make up our culture. What can we promote that all year round?

Andrew: Yeah. Lizzie, look, my final question or really probably more my final opportunity to you is you’ve got this platform, make your, state your pitch, put your pitch to the people as to why they would vote for you, march, 2020

Lizzie Adams: Well look, I think if I’m, and I’m always open and honest, Andrew, people can tell you that. I don’t sugar coat anything. If you want your voice brought to the table or your issues addressed at the table, sit down and have a coffee with me. Do you want to learn more about Lizzie Adams? Hey, throw me a message. Give me a call. I’m happy to sit there and tell you. So if you want your voice heard, I’m your girl and I’ll say it how it is. I won’t sugar coat it. I won’t go in and change their words to suit, you know, some other jargon or what I think should be best said. And that’s the honesty that I bring.

Andrew: Yeah. Lizzie Adams. Thank you very much for your time with our listeners.

Lizzie Adams: No worries. Thanks for the opportunity guys. And hopefully, vote one Lizzie Adams for counsellor in 2020.

Darryl: Thanks Lizzie.

Lizzie Adams: Thanks Daryl.

Andrew: Well done. Look all the best with getting out of that [inaudible 00:23:30] they are right?

Lizzie Adams: Yeah, we’ve got to go find the car, we probably lost it, you know.

Andrew: That really reminds of feedback of we got back quite a few years ago and it was a domestic airport day, but that multi story car park, that’s sort of almost adjoins. I’d gone down to, I was on Sydney or Melbourne for a job and I come back, I’m like, Aw crap. Which level was it? Back in the Ford days I’m trying to hit, set the horn off, you know, [crosstalk 00:23:59] I’m sure Darryl is more than comfortable with me saying this, but I would imagine anytime you want to say something, give something. You had to give Darryl a bell. You know, you’ve, you’ve got my support there too. Make sure that whenever you want a voice and you want to broadcast it, you can do it with us.

Lizzie Adams: So you guys will put that up and then I can share that on my page and stuff too?

Andrew: Absolutely.

Lizzie Adams: Oh wonderful.

Darryl: They’ll be a transcript and everything.

Andrew: Yes.

Lizzie Adams: Yeah, you guys are awesome.

Andrew: No worries. You take care. Look after yourself.

Lizzie Adams: You too guys, have an awesome day.