01 Nov 2025

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:15):
Hi, I'm Inga McKenna, a member of the Australian Women's
blind cricket team, and you're listening to Leisure Link with
Peter Greco on the Vision Australia radio network.

S2 (00:48):
It's just gone. 5:00 as I welcome you to leisure
link here on Vision Australia Radio 1190 7 a.m., Adelaide.
Online at radio via Radio Digital and Adelaide in Darwin
through the Community Radio Plus app. Look for Vision Australia
Radio Adelaide your favourite podcast or streaming service also finds us.
Hello to our friends listening through 103.9 FM in estimates

(01:12):
in Western Australia. Hello to our friends listening to the
Reading Radio Network, particularly down in Tasmania, anywhere for that matter.
And a big hello and thank you to Disability Media
Australia for their wonderful support of this program and many
other great things they do. If you want to find
out much more about them, you can go to Powered Media.

(01:34):
Media Peter Greco saying tremendous to be here. Thank you
for making time to tune in. Really appreciate that this
program coming to you from Wonderland come to you very shortly.
We'll speak to Ingrid McKenna after the first World Cup
for women. Blind cricket is exciting times. We'll chat about that.
We'll speak to Melanie Kiley from NSW. They're coming to

(01:58):
South Australia and the NT, hopefully helping with services for
people who have. Ms. will find out much more about that.
Ruth Weldon would invite you to on the Terrace tomorrow
on North Terrace. Three events, audio described and also audio
description at the Christmas pageant and a chance for you
to get a really good seat. Stay tuned to hear

(02:21):
from Ruth as how you can do that. David Mitchell
will join us. The importance of sleep alternatives maybe to
melatonin thing that can't be imported anymore. David has got
those details. Will be joined also by Belinda Healy from
Brewed by Belinda the Brew. That is true. Belinda will
talk about making tea, preparing tea. What goes into tea,

(02:44):
particularly in South Korea, will find out about that. Josh
Campton will join us from tutti. He's just been in
a film called liability. We'll hear about that and a
bit more about Josh's wonderful artwork. And also catch up
with Will Turner from Adelaide. They've got a conference coming
up you might like to attend. We'll find out what

(03:04):
they're doing as far as access and inclusion goes as well.
And before we go tonight we might have a little
go at tipping the Melbourne Cup. It's a very exciting
time for Australian women's blind cricket team. Let's find out
a bit more about it and speak to one of
their stars, Andrew McKenna. Andrew, great to catch up with

(03:26):
you for the first time. Thanks for making time for us.

S1 (03:29):
Thanks for having me, Dana.

S2 (03:30):
Now you're off very soon for some very important sounding competition.

S1 (03:34):
Yeah, we're heading over to India next week, so we're
competing in the first Women's Blind World Cup. So, um,
there's about six countries, um, playing there. So, uh. Yeah,
very good competition coming up.

S2 (03:46):
Now, this is kind of happened quite quickly, hasn't it? Well,
I guess for you probably not so quickly, but those observing, uh,
it's sort of in 3 or 4 years, it's sort
of gone from zero to this.

S1 (03:56):
Yeah. We, um, started our women's program up here in
Australia back in 2022, which, um, was just a training
camp just to see who, um, what women were interested
here in Australia, which, um, I attended, I was in
Adelaide and then we headed over to Birmingham in 2023
for the games. I was lucky enough to get selected
in that team, and then last year was a pretty

(04:17):
quiet year, but we still were working hard, doing training
camps and just training within our states. And then earlier
this year, we were lucky enough to have a, um,
tour against Pakistan, um, up in Brisbane. So that was
a really great tour to, um, a lot of rain
in Brisbane to get to play the full series. But um, yeah.
So we're really excited about this, um, World Cup. Obviously

(04:40):
it's the first one, but also, yeah, we're going to
be able to achieve and playing some new countries. So uh, yeah,
we're really, really looking forward to it.

S2 (04:47):
Yeah, that was exciting in Brisbane apart from the weather,
as you say, because I think was that Pakistan's first
time kind of away from home. So that was obviously
a big occasion for them. And, you know, in a
sense for blind cricket and for women in Pakistan.

S1 (04:59):
Yeah, absolutely. I think it was their first, um, away
from Pakistan. So, um, yeah, it was they were very excited. Um, unfortunately,
I would have put on the good weather, but, um,
we're able to get two games out of that, so, um,
hopefully some good experience for them. And yeah, hopefully they're
looking forward to the World Cup too and being able
to play us again. So maybe we'll be able to

(05:21):
decide because the series ended one one. So we'll be
able to, um, good competition in the World Cup for us.

S2 (05:28):
Half time as far as that competition goes. Yeah. So, uh,
what what do you know about the trip coming up?
I mean, uh, you know, India, I guess. Yeah, it
depends on how you want to look at it. It
could be a very exciting time. Maybe a challenging time.
How are you looking at it?

S1 (05:41):
Um, yeah. No, I'm really excited. Um, obviously, India is
so well known for cricket, so, um, it's going to
be going to be a completely different experience. But yeah,
I mean, this the support we've got from Cricket Australia
this time is kind of very exciting for us. It's um,
our first time being a fully funded team through Cricket
Australia and travelling under them. So that's kind of a

(06:02):
new experience for us too. But um, and obviously being
the first Women's World Cup. So it's yeah, it's something
new for us. But, um, we're all really excited to, to, um,
put our best foot forward and, um, all work together. And, um,
we've all been training really hard, so, um, yeah, I
think we're just really excited as a team to travel

(06:23):
over and see where we are, um, against other countries.

S2 (06:27):
Yeah. So right about cricket in India and their love
for cricket, I mean, the current tour with the 50
overs and T20 matches kind of show that with the
crowds that are turning up for the conventional cricket. And
of course, I've mentioned a few times in the programme
over the last 2 or 3 years, but it was really, well,
sort of good in a sense, but at Australia's expense,
that when the Indian girls won the, uh, the event

(06:48):
in Birmingham, um, the Indian prime minister tweeted about it.
So that kind of put, uh, blind cricket right on
the map as far as India and, and the women
in India went.

S1 (06:56):
Yeah, India really supports their blind cricket teams, which is
so great to see. But yeah, that was so crazy
about cricket over there. it. It's so awesome to see.
So always is a good competition against them. They definitely
show a lot of passion out on the field, that's
for sure.

S2 (07:12):
What's this bit about your career so far? I mean,
we talk about some of the other things you've done.
You've talked about the training camp you went to, and
all of a sudden you're in the Australian squad and
now playing for Australia, probably cricket's not your first love,
fair to say.

S1 (07:26):
Oh, yeah. No, I, um, uh, Bligh Kruger was the
first sport I played, but, um. Yeah, I've tried a
few other sports since then. I played blind AFL and, um,
blind football. So I've been lucky enough to, um, play
for Saint Kilda in the AFL and, um, play on
the Australian team for the blind football team, which has
been amazing. So.

S2 (07:45):
Okay, we spoke to Shannon Jones the other day. Uh,
of course, he won the Employer of Choice award from, uh,
the uh, organization for the Blind Australian of the year. So, uh,
that's obviously a pretty cool thing.

S1 (07:57):
Yeah. They did, um, they're a great club to be
a part of. Um, they really are passionate about inclusion
and everything like that. So it's great to see that
I'm getting rewarded for that. Uh, the employer of the
year award, too.

S2 (08:11):
What's it like having so many talents and being able
to play so many sports? Uh, us mere mortals can
only stop and admire?

S1 (08:17):
Uh, yeah. I mean, obviously it takes a lot of work, but, um. Yeah. No,
it's good fun. I just love them all. So, um. Yeah, just, um,
enjoy them and just train hard.

S2 (08:26):
I guess if the young women's team isn't it, uh,
a lot of young players in the team, we've spoken
to a few of them over the couple of years
or so, a number from South Australia. So I guess
that's kind of good that you got that sort of, um,
you know, thing in common as far as your age
group and I guess your common interests outside cricket as well.

S1 (08:42):
Yeah. We've got a really good, um, young group there now, but, um,
we've still got a few older girls that are around.

S2 (08:50):
That, uh, be careful with the older ones there. Just watch, watch,
watch your language.

S1 (08:54):
Yeah. No.

S2 (08:55):
You'll be there one day. You know that, don't you?

S1 (08:56):
Yeah, yeah. They, um.

S2 (08:58):
I'll come back to remind you.

S1 (08:59):
Yeah, yeah. No, but they keep us in line. They, um.
It's good to have a few older heads on the team, so, um.
But no. Yeah, we get along so well off the
off the field. Everybody on the team, which is really great, too,
now that we've been together, um, for a few years,
we traveled to Birmingham, done it on the Pakistan to us.
So we just played a lot more cricket together and

(09:20):
obviously spent a lot of time off the field together too, especially, um,
up in Brisbane when we were playing too much cricket. So, uh,
we got to know each other really well.

S2 (09:28):
So yeah, it's, it's one of the advantages of Reinhardt, uh,
the cricket stopping play. Just a bit about your role
in the team. Then you bat your bowl, you do both. Uh,
what do you prefer? Uh, fielding.

S1 (09:39):
Yeah. So I'm the wicket keeper for the team. So, uh. Yeah,
I love, love that. It's it's good fun. You're always involved, and, uh,
I love poking a fair bit, so, um. Yeah, suits
me pretty well, but. Yeah, then probably, like, middle order, um,
batter and then, uh, yeah, sometimes I go out into
the field if I need, did. But, uh. Yeah, I'm

(10:00):
just happy to do anything. I'm just very grateful to
be on the team and, um. Yeah. Happy to do
whatever I need.

S2 (10:07):
So you like a bit of chirp, do you, Ingrid?

S1 (10:09):
Oh, I do, I love a bit of chirp, so
I definitely give it to the baddies, that's for sure.

S2 (10:15):
Okay. That's good. I mean, it should be alive and well,
that sort of stuff. As long as it's good natured. Uh,
a bit of, uh, you know, a gamesmanship to put
the person off. It never does any harm.

S1 (10:25):
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah.

S2 (10:26):
Well, what about, uh, that sort of, um, if you like,
character or that sort of extrovert. So where does that
come from?

S1 (10:32):
Oh, I don't know. I've just always kind of just, um. Yeah,
I've kind of been outgoing and confident and, um, just
wanting to, like, try new things. That's kind of my personality. So, um. Yeah,
I just like to get to know what kind of
the other cultures are and, like, getting to talk to
other Pakistan players. And, um, off the field was super fun, too.

(10:52):
So just to learn what they're like and what their
lifestyles are like and, um, things like that is super
interesting to me. So yeah, I don't know. I'm just
an outgoing person I guess, and try new things and
meeting new people, so.

S2 (11:06):
Oh well, good on you for that. And on a
serious note, and I guess we have been serious. But
on it, you know, it's very important to keep it
a kind of keep the energy and spirit of the
team up, particularly maybe if things aren't quite going the
way you'd all like it to be going like your
role is very important in that situation as well.

S1 (11:22):
Yeah, absolutely. I, um, definitely bring the good vibes. Um,
just trying to keep the girls, um, motivated and. Yeah,
just trying to enjoy ourselves in the field. You know,
90 minutes is a long time to be out there, fielding. Um,
especially probably in the Indian heat. It'll be tough work. But, yeah,
I definitely love having a good laugh with, um, the girls. So, uh. Yeah,
I'll say some pretty stupid things out there, but I

(11:44):
always get a good laugh. So as long as I'm
making somebody's day or something, that's. That's all that is,
all right.

S2 (11:50):
We might sneak a recorder out there and see if
we can get the best of Ingrid Mckennis to work
out there. You know, maybe make an album out or something. Yeah, yeah.
What about in India? Are you playing all of the
one spot or do you move around a bit? How
does that work?

S1 (12:05):
Oh, no. Sorry. I'm fighting, uh, Delhi first. And, uh,
I think we play, um, a few teams there, and
then we, uh, fly down to Bangalore and then. Okay,
it's co-hosted by Sri Lanka. So we'll fly out to
Sri Lanka to, um, uh, finish up the competition there. So, uh, yeah,
we a few different locations that. Are we good?

S2 (12:25):
Is it a round robin and then finals? How does
that work?

S1 (12:28):
Uh, yeah. So round robin, uh, there's six teams playing
in the competition. And then, yeah, we'll go into finals
or T20s. Yeah. All T20s. Yeah.

S2 (12:36):
Now, uh, a great friend of the program, I say
tongue in cheek, uh, Lucky Wallace, uh, he's still like
pepper and salt still and everything.

S1 (12:43):
Yes. He's, uh, he's just encouraged. So, um. Yeah, he's
been great for the program. Yeah. Um, I don't I.

S2 (12:50):
Really don't want people talking about.

S1 (12:51):
Haha. Yeah. No, he brings, um, obviously his knowledge and
experience from played cricket by cricket for Australia himself. So, uh, yeah,
he's been really good for the program.

S2 (13:01):
Of course. Uh, you got, uh, coach in their own
right as well. So. And yeah, I guess they say it's, well,
even they have been playing very long. It's quite an
experienced team. So, uh, would you be expected to. Well,
you of course you'd be expected to do.

S1 (13:14):
Well, yeah. I think we've obviously played a lot of
cricket together now as a group. A few of us. Yeah.
Went to Birmingham together and obviously the Pakistan series. So
we just know each other's games very well and um
what each other can do. So yeah, we were so
well I guess kind of connected in that Pakistan um, series.
So uh, yeah, we're really excited to see what we
can do in the World Cup. Obviously we're going to

(13:35):
play countries we've played before, but there's obviously new countries too. So, um,
you never know what to expect with them. But, uh, yeah,
we'll definitely just try our best. And yeah, I think we're, um,
really good group, um, and work really hard. The girls
have been training so well, and, um, we've been keeping
each other updated, so. Yeah, keeping us motivated for sure
to keep training hungry.

S2 (13:57):
What category are.

S1 (13:58):
You? Um, I'm a B3 player.

S2 (14:00):
And can I ask about your eye condition?

S1 (14:02):
Yeah. So I have a condition called aniridia. So I
was born without an iris. So the colored part of
your eye. So, um, I'm kind of all sensitive to light,
and then I'm kind of, like, going from, like, light
to dark. Transitioning from that is, um, quite typical for me. So, um. Yeah,
I'll definitely be wearing studies out of the, uh, cricket

(14:24):
for sure.

S2 (14:24):
Yeah. And what about, uh, you know, the the sort of, uh,
playing cricket during the day, you know, strong part of
the day, as far as the sun goes. Is that
is that an issue or. You kind of learned to
manage that?

S1 (14:33):
Uh, yeah, I played a decent amount of cricket games now,
so I kind of know how to manage that. Um, now,
which is, which is good.

S2 (14:40):
So now through school, particularly high school, you're playing, uh,
football or soccer? Uh, sort of with, uh, against the
other players who are sighted.

S1 (14:49):
Uh, yeah. I played, uh, I was always played sport
at school. I was more Moreover, like Netballer, I'm growing up.
And then, uh, yeah, a bit of soccer. So, uh, they,
they were my main sports in high school and then
kind of transitioned into beIN sports. I'm kind of in
my last year of high school. So, uh, that was
my cricket I started then.

S2 (15:07):
And is your situation fairly stable on sort of long term?
What's the prognosis?

S1 (15:12):
Uh, yeah. But at the moment my, um, site is stable, so, uh, yeah, I, um,
also have glaucoma, so, uh. Yeah, I'm probably deteriorate, but, uh,
for right now, it's stable. Yeah. Has been for a while.

S2 (15:25):
Did you find that particularly when you were playing sort
of conventional sport, netball and football? It was kind of
good to kind of, um, integrate with everyone else. Did
that kind of help being able to play sport for
the people to find out a bit more about, uh,
you know, vision impairment because you were playing sport kind
of alongside them?

S1 (15:42):
Yeah. I think, um, definitely, obviously, um, a few of
my friends about, um, vision impairment and what kind of
blindness can look different for every individual and things like that.
So yeah, it definitely helped me learn how to, you know,
play sports and, um, like coordination and, um, getting to
know new people. But yeah, definitely taught them about vision impairments, too,

(16:04):
while I was at it. So, um, which is good.
So and yeah, that's some of my, um, long time
friends now that I used to play those sports with. So.
Which is good.

S2 (16:12):
You know, note that information about you, you're very passionate
about inclusion and advocacy and kind of the rights of
people with disabilities. Where does that come from?

S1 (16:20):
Um, yeah. I've always had like passion for advocating and, um, inclusion,
things like that. Obviously being somebody with a disability and
a woman, you can experience, I guess, marginalization. Um, and yeah,
I just went on to after high school, I went
on to study a Bachelor of Youth work. So, uh, yeah,
definitely a big key, um, of that type of work. So, uh, yeah.

(16:41):
So something I've always been interested in passion that everybody
should have opportunities no matter the situation or circumstances they're
experiencing or. Yeah, have. So they should all have opportunities
to succeed and live the best life they can. Really.

S2 (16:55):
It's a great message. And obviously with a number of
girls in the team being younger than you, they'd probably
look up to you because you know, you've got that
ability to communicate and advocate and being articulate about it.
It's kind of good things to be passing down to
younger girls, even though they're only 3 or 4 years
or whatever, younger than you. It's it's great to have
people like you around.

S1 (17:16):
Yeah, I definitely like, um, setting, trying to set a
good example for the younger girls and, um, things like that. Yeah,
there's only a few years, but yeah, obviously we're learning
certain things at the same time. But, uh, yeah, I
guess if you do pay attention a lot to those
people around you and, um, what habits they do and
what things they do. So, um, yeah, try and try
my best to set a good example, that's for sure.

S2 (17:38):
All right. Well, I'm sure we'll get good coverage of
the games, and we'll certainly keep up to date with
how the team goes. And would love to catch up
when you get back. Great to meet you for the
first time. We've heard a lot about you. We've learnt
a learned a little bit about you in the last
ten minutes or so, so we appreciate that. To you,
to you and the girls, to the team as a whole,
we we wish you well. I'm sure you'll represent us
very proudly. And we look forward to, as I say,

(17:59):
catching up the results. And thanks for spending some time
with us today.

S1 (18:02):
No thanks from me. It was great.

S2 (18:04):
That's Ingrid McKenna there, one of the members of the
Australian Women's blind cricket team off to the World Cup.
The first World Cup. So what's that about? Oh, about
30 years after the men played their first one. So
it's a great achievement. It's a great event and we'll
certainly keep you up to date as the time goes on.

(18:24):
The last few weeks we've been talking about the situation
in South Australia and anti regarding the Ms. society. There
might be some good news. Let's find out a bit
more about it and speak to Melanie Kylie who's from MSW.
Melanie lovely to meet you. Thank you for your time.

S1 (18:37):
Thanks for having me Peter.

S3 (18:39):
Lovely to talk.

S2 (18:40):
Now this seems good news. What can you tell us?
I guess it's early days yet, and the announcements kind
of only just been made. So everyone's digesting things.

S3 (18:47):
It's never good news when we see a charitable provider
go into insolvency, and sadly, we're seeing too many of
those happening at the moment, with changes to the NDIS
and the pressures from the pricing reductions. But at the
end of the day, it's nice to know that we
as a fellow sister charity, can step in and help
to at least continue the services to the clients in
South Australia and the Northern Territory.

S2 (19:08):
So is that how it is at the moment? People
that are receiving services, you kind of now quote unquote
take them over.

S3 (19:14):
Well, yeah, I mean everybody still has choice and control
certainly if they fund it via the NDIS. But yes,
we've spoken to all clients and to the extent they
want us to, we'll be working with them to continue
their services in as sustainable a way as possible.

S2 (19:28):
Now, obviously we're talking about clients both in South Australia
and the Northern Territory as well.

S3 (19:33):
That's correct. Yes.

S2 (19:34):
So why and how has this happened from your point
of view? I guess we probably can't really talk much
about what's happened to the society here in South Australia because, well,
either in voluntary administration, I guess all those things will
come out in the wash as they like to say.
But what kind of instigated you to do this? Was
it just because you were nice people?

S3 (19:51):
Look, we we were set up to, you know, empower
people living with Ms. and other neurological conditions to live
the best life they can and embrace it and provide
supports to have them do that. We can't, in good
conscience walk away from a situation where you see two
states where people will not get that specialist support, and
I think it is important they get specialist support from
people who understand their condition. And so, you know, we've

(20:14):
been talking for a while to them, and it's sad
that they had to go down this route. But we
understand why. And I think, you know, it's just really
important that people continue to get the support. And that's
why we've got a good model that works in WA.
And we hope, with the support of the rest of
the country, to apply that same model in South Australia,
Northern Territory, but customized where they've got better lessons learnt

(20:34):
than we do.

S2 (20:35):
You talked about the specialist support. How important is that?
Because I think there was talk that, oh, well, those
services might be kind of hived out to other organisations
who probably wouldn't be. no criticism of them, but they
probably wouldn't be quite as well versed in the specialist area.
So how important is the fact that someone with your
background comes in to lend a hand?

S3 (20:53):
If I could do it by way of an example,
a little experience example, you know, we've got a staff
member and a client who moved from metropolitan Perth to
a more regional area. She was talking to me the
other day about how she can't find a specialist neuro
physio in her area and how as a result, she
goes to her normal physio who's a very good physio
but doesn't have the expertise in neuro, and how her

(21:13):
functional capacity has declined significantly just over six months. So
the more we can bring in expertise to deal with
people who understand what these conditions are doing to them
and help them to increase their independence and their capacity,
the better. And that, as you say, is not to
badmouth any other professionals that are out there. But we
all know we have doctors who are specialists, who specialize
in their areas, and we go to specialists for a reason.

S2 (21:35):
Because because sometimes if you lose that six months, if
you like, or regress a little bit, it's going to
be a bit hard to kind of make that up
and then keep moving on.

S3 (21:42):
Absolutely.

S2 (21:43):
What about as far as the services go? Is it
kind of across the board? Do you offer any less
than what people might have been receiving here in South
Australia or the Northern Territory?

S3 (21:51):
No. In WA we offer a much broader range of
services which hopefully trying to understand what the community needs
in both states. We can have a look whether we
do or don't apply them or apply them in a
better way. In WA, we provide supported independent living units
for people to live in and 24 hour support. We
provide 24 hour nursing support. We provide actual clinical nursing.

(22:13):
We provide a range of service centres as well as
respite care. So there's quite a range of things that
we do do in WA that South Australia have not had,
which we would be talking to the community about, but
similarly in Northern Territory, we need to understand what they
want and need and how we can or can't apply
or modify what we've done in other places.

S2 (22:31):
And obviously that getting too much into specifics. But in
general terms, the someone was receiving services last month, if
you like, from the organisation here in South Australia or
the Northern Territory, and they've got an NDIS plan. It's
a fairly smooth transition. Can you talk much about that?

S3 (22:46):
Yes I can. I mean, I believe it is. So
if they make choice and control and they assign their
plan over to us, it's done in a government system.
They get transferred over to us and we then plan
their services with them going forward. And I think it's
really important not to assume you just carry on doing
what they've always had, but that we have conversations with
them about what they need. We tailor that for them
in a way that is sustainable for the organisation and them.

(23:08):
We don't want to be coming back to where South
Australia ended up, so we need to make sure we
can do that for them and us in a way
that is long term sustainable.

S2 (23:16):
Now, another part of miss here in South Australia, the
NT with multiple solutions. Is there any news regarding that
side of the business?

S3 (23:23):
I think that's for the administrator to discuss. I believe
that contract is being handed back to the government. That
is not an area of the business that we're taking over.
It wasn't specific to miss that particular part of the business.
It was very broad ranged disability employment services or search services.
So it's not something that we have the expertise in.
So it's not an area that we'll be taking over.

S2 (23:44):
Okay. Without being too specific, what about in terms of
the staff that worked in that area?

S3 (23:49):
I don't know. And again, that's a comment for the administrator,
but we are taking over the bulk of the staff
that worked in the services around allied health, occupational therapy
and nursing.

S2 (23:58):
Yeah. Have I read this? Right? Because one of the
things that the society shouldn't have been doing is fundraising
through lotteries. Are you helping out as far as those
prizes and that sort of thing goes as well?

S3 (24:08):
Yes. So they had a lottery in flight where people
had paid for tickets. In the current insolvency situation, there's
a very good chance that those ticket holders would not
be refunded their chickens. What happened is that lottery was
suspended when they went into insolvency, and we believe that
that's not fair. It's not good for charitable lotteries that
are trying to raise money to do good. So we'll
be coming in to pay for that prize and to

(24:30):
draw that prize at the end of this month.

S2 (24:32):
Okay. Well, I think that would be very reassuring for
a lot of people because, I mean, I never win
anything anyway, Melanie. But sometimes you like to at least
think you've still got a chance.

S3 (24:39):
Absolutely. Don't we all? That little bit of a dream sometimes.
So look, we will be doing that. And our model
is predicated on running lotteries alongside the services to help
fund those gaps that government can't fund. And that's a
model we hope to continue in South Australia with the
generosity of South Australians and ultimately move to Northern Territory
if we can.

S2 (24:57):
Melanie, is this kind of short term because I know
that you're talking, that you're well, you speak about talking
to governments, I guess, both state and federal as we
go forward. So is this kind of a temporary measure?
Can you comment on that?

S3 (25:09):
We have every intention of growing and trying to provide
as much positive impact to people with Ms. and other
neurological conditions in the two states. It is certainly not
short term for us. We were involved trying to help
South Australia and Northern Territory about ten years ago, and
we've learned that short term solutions are not what's needed here.
What's needed are long term, sustained solutions, but that needs

(25:29):
the government to come to the party for providers at
the moment, because I don't think they quite realise the
problem that they've created.

S2 (25:36):
Okay, well that's interesting. And just on that, again, I
note through your media release that we've had a couple
of organizations here in South Australia who have in financial difficulties.
You talk about is it 350 over the last year.

S3 (25:48):
Since I think it was October last year. So we
are talking about 12 month period, but that's a phenomenal
amount of charities that exist to do good that are
going under. And I know governments believe there are too
many and I know they believe in consolidation. But at
the end of the day, human beings are being affected.
And I can guarantee you these human beings end up
in hospitals or costing the state and federal governments money elsewhere.

(26:09):
It's not a saving when you see these organizations go under.
It's a tragedy.

S2 (26:13):
Both for the employees or the staff. And I guess
if they've got volunteers that volunteer with organizations as well,
and of course, the clients. So it's a lose, lose lose.

S3 (26:22):
Absolutely. And it's a lose lose lose for the governments too.

S2 (26:24):
You felt the sort of person that I think a
government would kind of tremble in their boots when they
spoke to you, but also take notice.

S3 (26:30):
Peter, that's very sweet of you. I'll let you know
if they do. Um, no. Look, I think it is.
You know, I've sat on the board of the national
peak body and I'm very active, and I support their
messaging very loud and clear that the NDIS review came
up with some very good recommendations. Those need to be
implemented and much quicker. They need to be committed to
with the government. But in the meantime, they need to

(26:51):
provide some kind of pricing relief to organisations like the
charities that deal with the more complicated cases and have
a much more higher level of accreditation and quality, and
necessarily because they deal with the more extreme cases.

S2 (27:03):
Well, I guess it's kind of easy to say, well,
that was badly managed or they made bad decisions, but
this is a bit of a trend. 350 over 9
or 12 months, whatever time you want to talk. This
is kind of a trend. There's something not quite right somewhere.

S3 (27:15):
Well, absolutely. And you know, I'm not advocating as organisations
we need to be as efficient as we can be.
And we don't want millions of little, little providers. But
at the end of the day, we've also got to
remember that these are community organisations and we've got to
help them to become sustainable, not just keep trying to
squeeze them until they eventually fold.

S2 (27:33):
So you're kind of take home message from here is
you've contacted all the clients or in the process of
contacting all the clients.

S3 (27:40):
Yes we are. We have done some face to face
and virtual discussions with them, and we've contacted them all, obviously,
to get from a privacy perspective, to get permission to
talk to them and to contact them and all the
staff we've been talking to. And I was down on
the ground in South Australia twice last week.

S2 (27:56):
Yes, I like.

S3 (27:56):
That you do that. So that was oh, it was
good though. I love South Australia, I have a bit
of a soft spot there, but the plan is to
go up to the Northern Territory in the next couple
of weeks to speak to the community up there.

S2 (28:06):
It's not for me to speak for other people, but
we might try and see if we can find you
a house. There's a housing crisis here, but maybe we
could make you a South Australian. You sell on the
sort of person that we could certainly use, but that's
no slight on people that are doing a great job here. Melanie.
Thank you. We'll put details up on our show notes. Mwah.
I guess people can go from there, but we'd love
to speak to you again in the future because this

(28:27):
sounds really good. I feel like asking this question and
there's probably not enough time for you to answer it,
but what are you doing that's right there That perhaps
hasn't been done in other places.

S3 (28:35):
We are incredibly lucky in West Australia to have the
support of West Australians in our lottery. Our lottery is
a phenomenal success and all credit to my predecessors and
people who came before me, but also my team who
do a great job with it now. But none of
that would be possible without the incredible generosity and support
of West Australians. And I think that is different because
that allows us to sadly subsidise where government doesn't and

(28:59):
to invest heavily in research. We've invested over 50 million
in research since that lottery started, and we continue to
do that and will continue, and we hope that we
can amplify that by doing a similar model in South
Australia and Northern Territory.

S2 (29:12):
Melanie, it's been great to talk to you. Thanks so much.
I know you've been busy because we've been chatting you
all around Australia or between South Australia and Western Australia. Anyway,
we appreciate you making the time for us and this
won't be the last time we speak.

S3 (29:23):
Well, Peter, thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure.

S2 (29:25):
It's a melody. Kylie there from MSU talk about the
situation with clients both in South Australia and the Northern Territory.
We'll keep you posted as things come out, and I'm
sure we'll speak to Melanie again in the future.

S4 (29:40):
Hi, I'm Trish Crockford, coach of the Mighty Rubies netball team,
and you're listening to Leisure Link with Peter Greco on
the Vision Australia radio network.

S2 (29:51):
We're going to give you an opportunity to do something
for free, which is good, which is fun. And also audio.
Describe what more can you ask for? Let's chat about
it from Ruth Weldon from Access to Arts. Ruth, great
to catch up. Thanks for your time.

S5 (30:04):
Thank you Peter, it's great to great to have a
chance to talk to you and to your audience about
some of the exciting stuff we've got coming up.

S2 (30:11):
Yeah, we're going to kick off tomorrow on the terrace.
This is great. This has been going for quite some time,
hasn't it?

S5 (30:16):
It has. Yeah. It's been going for a number of years.
We've been doing the audio described tours for On the Terrace. Uh,
it's a program by Chamber Music Adelaide, and it's a
free mini festival of, uh, pop up concerts for for
one day only. So it's it's using all the beautiful,
iconic buildings along North Terrace. It's, uh, Gallery, Art Gallery
of South Australia, the Mortlock Library, uh, the SA museum,

(30:41):
and in all in the various rooms and spaces within
these institutions are, uh, short 20 minute performances of classical
and choral music. So it's a really beautiful event. There's
a lot of new, um, compositions that are presented at
On the Terrace by, by South Australian talent. And we've
done the tours for several years. It's a really great

(31:04):
opportunity not only to hear some gorgeous music, but to
have a bit of an extra experience with the musicians
with with some of the performances, we do a meet
the instrument after the set and which is really fun.
It gives you it gives our describers, uh, audiences a
chance to chat to the musicians, but they also get
to meet the instruments. They get to touch the instruments

(31:26):
to get a feel, get an understanding of how they're
set up, what work. So it's a really wonderful add
on that, um, that we're very proud that we can offer.
So we're really looking forward to this year. There's some
wonderful highlights. Uh, if any of your listeners went came
last year, uh, Jody O'reagan is back again. And I
know that was a highlight of last year's On the Terrace.

(31:48):
So we're really excited to see her new performance. Uh,
we'll also be describing a new event that does traditional
Chinese music. So that was a really beautiful thing to
see and to get a get a bit of understanding
of those very unique instruments and what they look like. Um,
get hear that description. Uh, and we'll also describe the

(32:09):
spaces we're in, the gorgeous Mortlock Library, the elder wing
of the art gallery. It's going to be a very,
very special experience.

S2 (32:16):
And it is free, isn't it?

S5 (32:18):
It's free. It kicks off at 11 a.m., 11 till four. Um,
we are taking registrations via the Access to Arts website
and we would encourage registration. So we have an idea
of numbers, but we're meeting at the front of the
SA museum at 11 a.m. and it'll be myself and
our other wonderful audio describer, Catherine Fitzgerald, leading that one.

S2 (32:38):
Oh yes, we know Catherine very well. So that's fantastic.
That's a tremendous idea about meeting the instruments because, you know,
you can hear the music, you can hear the, uh,
the melodies, etc. but, you know, you don't know necessarily
exactly what the instrument feels like or you know, what
it's like to actually touch it. That's a tremendous innovation.

S5 (33:00):
Yeah, it's a really special thing that we do for that.
And it is it's tremendous. It's we're very thankful for
our partnership on this event with, uh, Adelaide Chamber Music
and the fact that the artists are so open to
our audiences coming and touching the instruments and getting that
extra experience. You know, instruments are very precious items. But
our but the musicians can see the benefit in the, uh,

(33:23):
vision impaired and blind service users uses having that understanding
and getting an experience to fill in those gaps. Of what?
Of of what they can't see, I guess.

S2 (33:33):
Yeah, well, sometimes I say you have something in your
mind or that must feel like that or look like that,
and then when you actually feel it, think, oh, it
was nothing like I thought.

S5 (33:40):
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I think it'll be really a really
it's a really tremendous part of the on the terrace experience.

S2 (33:47):
And a wonderful thing with the Chinese, of course, with
the Ossetia. Right in the thick of it.

S5 (33:51):
Exactly, exactly. That'll be really special. Um, that group is saying,
and that's going to be happening at the art gallery
in the elder Wing. So that'll be it's a beautiful space,
and it'll be wonderful to hear some traditional Chinese music
by some, uh, local Chinese Australian performers. So, yeah, that
one would be really special. I'm describing that one. I'm

(34:12):
really looking forward to it.

S2 (34:14):
We got a busy day. We'd like to, uh, make
sure you get a good night's sleep. And the other
good thing is something like this is that it must
be great for the artist, because, you know, obviously, you
think you do a good job as an artist or
you hope people enjoy the the performance, but it's good
to kind of, uh, you know, share it with, with
an audience and with the audio describe as being involved
as well and, and showing your instrument. I get a

(34:34):
bit more connection with the audience, I think with something
like that.

S5 (34:38):
Yeah, absolutely. It's a really wonderful experience for the musicians
as well. And certainly we've found that in previous years
that the musicians have really enjoyed the experience to have
those deeper conversations with our audiences and to do the,
you know, meeting the instrument experience. It also educates the

(34:58):
musicians about the services that we offer and how we
can add to the experience for, for our, for our audiences.
So I think it's a really wonderful experience for musicians
and our audiences alike.

S2 (35:11):
They're going to different venues, but people can kind of
pick and choose that as they come along for the
whole sort of 4 or 5 hours.

S5 (35:18):
No, no, you can absolutely pick and choose, um, on
the Access to Arts website when you, under our What's
on page, there is an event listing that has the
booking form, but it also has a schedule of where
Catherine and I will be taking the tour. So we
are meeting at 11 at the front of the museum,
and the first of three performances will be within the museum.

(35:40):
Then we move to the art gallery. Then we've got
a bit of a lunch break, then over to the Mortlock.
But the. But if you can't do the whole day,
my recommendation would be to pop onto the website, have
a look at the schedule, see what works for you
and you can come find us at that location. Will
be wearing our bright yellow audio describer vests for for

(36:01):
people in your group to lead the way. Um, and
we can certainly wave you down and we'll have, um,
an area of seating reserved as well for our group. So.

S2 (36:10):
Acoustic. Hi. It's cold, isn't it?

S6 (36:12):
That's it. Yeah. That's it.

S2 (36:15):
Now, for people who either can't make it tomorrow or
have done that and think, well, that was good, I
want some more. the Christmas pageant is coming up.

S5 (36:24):
Yes, yes, the Christmas pageant, one of our most exciting
shows of the year or events of the year, I
should say. Uh, that is on Saturday the 8th of November, um,
at an early 9 a.m. start. So we have been
doing the Christmas pageant for many, many years. Um, and
it will be broadcast live across radio, which is very exciting.

(36:44):
But there is also the opportunity to come and listen
to the audio description live. We have a seating area on, uh,
Waymouth Street, a balcony that, uh, our patrons can come
and sit and listen to the description. It is free,
but we do absolutely require bookings for this. It's, you know,
we it's a popular event. So if you would like

(37:06):
your spot in that seating area, please do book in advance.
But it's wonderful. It's always a really notable, um, event
on the audio description calendar. We've we've got this wonderful
partnership with your sales at Vision Australia to to make
this accessible for not only the people that are on
the balcony with us, but people across the state. And

(37:27):
we've got some really wonderful describers. Cari and Meg are
on this event. Cari has done the pageant for many,
many years. She's a very experienced hand and Meg is
also very experienced describer as well. It's going to be
a really, really special event and just hearing the descriptions
of of all these historic floats, the, you know, Millie

(37:47):
the Elephant and the, you know, Santa Claus and nimble
and all the wonderful things that we know about the pageant.

S2 (37:55):
Well, the other wonderful thing that I've done is you
say the things we know about the pageant. The other
great thing that they've done over the years is tell
us stuff that, you know. I mean, I've lived in
South Australia all my life. I think I know a
little bit about what's going on, but you find out
some interesting information that's kind of behind the scenes or
under the headlines, if you like, which is really, really,
really cool. And, you know, it just gives you a
much better kind of understanding of the of what's gone

(38:17):
into some of these flights or the history behind some
of these organizations that are represented.

S5 (38:21):
Yeah, absolutely. It's a really special part of the tour. And,
you know, our audiences are very lucky. Our audio described audiences.
They often get a peek behind the scenes. They get
to hear a bit more about the process with the
pageant and with many of the events we do. We
wherever we can, find little bits of information to add
to the experience we do. So you're often you're often

(38:41):
getting much more than than other people.

S3 (38:44):
Oh.

S2 (38:45):
That is a great way to put it. That is
so true that if you. Yeah. And I mean, yeah,
with our due deference to our friends on television, you're
getting more than the people on television because they're only
talking to the pictures, so they, they don't have to
do more. So that's not a criticism, but it's a
great kind of strength of how important and how good
radio is. And more importantly, audio description on radio, which

(39:05):
is the great kind of free advertisement of how good
this sort of service is.

S5 (39:11):
Yeah, absolutely. It certainly is. And you're right that people
at home will not be hearing the little facts and
tidbits that our Vision Australia radio audiences will be and
our audience is there in person. So, you know, it's
really important to make it a well-rounded experience and to
add some of these bits of knowledge and history to it.

S2 (39:29):
And Ruth, with these seats, of course, not everyone is
blind or, you know, totally blind, but people have got
some vision that they're good positioned seats as well for
people who've got a little bit of sight to be
able to use that to the best of their ability
to really get plenty from the day as well.

S5 (39:43):
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. We are on the balcony, but it's
a good vision from above and it's a little because
it can be quite a crowded situation trying to get
a spot at the pageant. So it does it does
allow us um, it doesn't, it means that your that
if you do want to come along, you don't have
to rush and get there at 6:00 Am told us,
but we've held the spot for you. Um, and yeah,

(40:05):
it will be, it will be a really good, uh,
unrestricted view. No one in front of you, no heads
to duck around. So. Yeah, it's it's we're very lucky
to to be able to offer a prime position to
our audiences.

S2 (40:19):
If you're a parent with a child with a vision impairment.
Good for you. If you're a person who has a
vision impairment and you know your kids can come along
and then you can talk about it afterwards. Sort of
on equal footing, if you like. They're absolutely both those
sort of sets are catered for.

S5 (40:33):
Yeah, absolutely. It's a really wonderful family experience for those
who have vision impaired and those who aren't from the,
you know, as you said, families coming together and they
have a different experience, but they connect on sharing that,
you know, sharing the pattern in different ways and talking
about it afterwards. And that's really special.

S2 (40:52):
The only proviso is you must book.

S5 (40:55):
Yeah, absolutely. Yes. This one you definitely must book. We
we have a balcony. But you know, there's only so
much space. So if you're keen, get in. Get in quick.

S2 (41:03):
All right. Access to arts. That's the numeral two. And
we'll 84631689. Ruth, you're gonna have a busy day tomorrow,
so we'll let you go off and have a bit
of a rest and maybe rest the voice. Enjoy the day.
I'm sure the people that come along will as well.
And also, we look forward to the Christmas pageant the
following Saturday, the 8th of November as well. So lots

(41:24):
coming up and we'll catch up on more stuff on
the focal point in November as well.

S5 (41:30):
Wonderful. Thank you so much, Peter. I appreciate your time.

S2 (41:33):
And access to our 84631689. And please do book on
that page. That'd be great. And so we'll on the
terrace tomorrow. Time to catch up with our regular health commentator,

(41:57):
David Mitchell. Join us around about this time for the
first week of each month. David. Welcome back.

S7 (42:02):
Hello, Peter. Hello, everyone.

S2 (42:04):
David. Uh, this time last month, we were chatting about
melatonin and its benefits. And, um, there was some talk
that it might not be available to people from overseas
in Australia and that sadly has ensued since the last
time we spoke.

S7 (42:17):
Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it? Here is melatonin that worldwide
is accepted as the ultimate as sleep remedy. And it
doesn't matter what country you are, it's legal to buy
it and buy it over the counter or buy buy
it off the internet. But not Australia. They've decided on very,
very poor grounds that it's somehow rather dangerous for Australians

(42:39):
and that we shouldn't be allowed to take it. However,
there is, and that's an issue in itself. But there
is a perhaps an out that they've left that the TGA,
Therapeutic Goods Administration that makes these rules, who are mainly bureaucrats,
they had left what seems to be an opening whereby
if you get a prescription from your doctor that has

(43:02):
the brand, the dose and the the frequency of taking
and how many pills there are in the bottle, you
can post that script off to one of the overseas
These suppliers and they are technically allowed, therefore, to send
you back the description and the bottle of pills and
customs will let it through. So it's worth worth continuing

(43:26):
or trying to do. And it should work because that's
how the how it reads on the internet. Anyway, if
we come to that bit, we need therefore to talk
about sleep. And sleep was was one of the particularly
in the in the aged is is an issue. We
make less and less melatonin and we have less and
less powerful sleep or refreshing sleep. So it's not that

(43:49):
it's because we're getting older, it's because we run out
of melatonin, in fact. But the thing about it is
that there are a few things that you can do
that are quite useful in its own right. Obviously, one
of the things is that we go to sleep towards
a dark, and the darkness turns on that, the production
of melatonin. But if there's no melatonin around, that doesn't

(44:10):
do much good. But if we are making some melatonin,
we need darkness. So we need to sleep in a
room where the light doesn't get in there, doesn't creep
in around them, the blinds or any other sort of
covering you've got on the windows. Or we do what
the airlines have done and they worked out years ago.
People don't sleep very well on planes, but they give
them an eye mask. So you look, you look like

(44:33):
a robber, but you can't. And these, these soft, funny
looking things. So a raccoon eyes or something is another description.
But you, by putting them on, you really don't notice
you've got them, but it blocks out the light and
you have a beautiful sleep. So it's well worth considering.
And it's the cheapest way. Uh, there's non-drug and non-herbal

(44:55):
and you don't need anyone's permission. You use that just
by itself. The second thing is that we fall asleep
as our temperature, our body temperature drops. So we need
to be not freezing cold, but we need to be cool.
And I don't mean that in terms of personality and
so on. I mean that in terms of real, real temperature.

(45:17):
So yeah, so having a hot cup of tea or
a hot cup of coffee or even hot milk by
itself may be too much to tip the balance, the
wrong way to heat the body up before we go
to bed. So it's worthwhile considering either have it earlier,
which makes more sense in the body's hesitance, or even

(45:38):
wear lighter clothing, or even just sitting on the edge
of the bed checking this or checking that, or catching
up on your email just so that your temperature comes
down a bit before you snuggle in. Under the blankets.
Simple as that. Yeah, and people were. So isn't this
surely this pill we could take?

S2 (45:56):
Well.

S7 (45:57):
There sort of is. The most significant one that gets
most of the credit is Valerian. And that's readily available
at health food stores and chemists and on the internet
and so on. passionflower, kava and that funny, horrible tasting
stuff that that has an alcoholic kick when you when
you go to the South South Islands or similar, they

(46:20):
are the sort of things and hops they the sort
of four most commonly used items that can be used
that do have some sleep effect. Mind you, the TGA
jumps up and down and says, well, all of those
have got some sort of side effects, which are a
hell of a lot worse than than if you're taking melatonin.
So you have to take it with a bit of

(46:41):
salt when this comes in and try it. So you
can buy them and they they do work on some people.
But the thing about it is that most herbal things,
if you take them for more than a couple of months,
they sometimes start to wear off. So you often need
to have a break. So it also doesn't kick in
straight away. You may have to take it a week

(47:03):
or two, or even three for the body to really
kick in and say, oh, this is not bad. I
think I'll let you keep shaking that, and I think
I'll sleep on it. Ha ha. Um, as as a
way of thinking about it. So that's the the best
that you could do in terms of all of that
exercise is also shown to be of some use. But remember,

(47:24):
if you exercise you're going to heat up. So you
do have to have that wind down that that cooling
down effect before it lasts. But if we start doing
those then we do know that the we get remember
we get into the assignment, renew, refresh, revive, make you
ready for the next day are all part and parcel
of the 15 things that happen when you've had adequate

(47:47):
sleep with adequate melatonin. Now, if we come into the
chemical side, we can say that well guess what? Melatonin
is made from l-tryptophan. L-tryptophan comes from milk and milk chocolate,
and it comes from a pill. And it's converted by
the body into serotonin and into melatonin, so it can

(48:09):
not only make you less depressed or less flat, but
it can also make more melatonin, which gives you that
recovery restorative effect that your own melatonin will do. So
that's freely available. You can get that on the internet
or you can get it from the chemist internet. It's
a lot cheaper to 500mg and taken preferably with food,

(48:32):
and preferably around three times when the body starts to
use it. So yes, you could take it at bedtime,
but you may not notice the same sort of kick
for for a while. But if you start taking it
around teatime with food, it seems to work really well.
But it does come back to the idea of that.
Warm milk used to be one of the treatments for

(48:53):
kids and adults that couldn't sleep. And lo and behold,
it's because the milk has that tryptophan. One could say,
you little beauty. Me being a chocoholic is that chocolate
also has tryptophan effect might be slightly more expensive than
buying tryptophan tablets, but it's it's a hell of a
lot nicer. So consider more rewarding yourself by having something

(49:17):
as simple as that. Um, alcohol has been put in
is does make some people sleepy, but it also has
excitatory or irritative effects, including giving you the night flushes
and heating you up. So it's you need to be
careful with it. I do remember that my mother in
law never used to sleep very well, so she used

(49:38):
to get up at night and have her milk. And
when that wasn't working well enough, she started pinching her
husband's scotch and pouring that into the milk. And she
thought it was absolutely wonderful. But worse still, to make
sure that her husband didn't realize that she was pinching
his scotch, she topped the Scotch bottle up with tea
because that was sort of a browny color. And she

(50:00):
got away with it for a few months, and I
think when he bought a new bottle, he suddenly realized
that what he was been tasting was not scotch, mainly tea.
So there was a huge ruckus there to sort that
one out. But I might point out that it did
seem to help Mother and Hook, at least until then,

(50:20):
so be careful of it. We can also find that
some some people, some foods can make you hotter, and
particularly if you have a diet that has a whole
lot of carbohydrates in it, then the carbohydrates will kick
in and make release more insulin. And insulin is inflammatory,
excitatory and heating. So you can often start having hot

(50:43):
flushes before or during your sleep and wake you up
because of what you've been eating. So if nothing else
is working, and you are particularly noticing that you're waking
with hot flushes during the night, look at your diet
and you would normally find that there is an excess
of carbs, Cards, particularly from T through to through to bedtime,

(51:04):
that stimulate that. That can be another way of thinking
about it. If you are the sort of person that
gets anxious or suffers from anxiety and you're taking your stuff,
then obviously green tea can be useful. But remember that
the heat effects or have an earlier chamomile I mentioned earlier,
camomile tea are also part and parcel of what you

(51:26):
can do. But the other thing is is ashwagandha. Ashwagandha
decreases the cortisol stress hormone that causes the fight flight
stasis scenario that can obviously make you more jittery, more anxious,
more more ready to run away, or to go out fighting.
So ashwagandha, particularly if it's taken anytime from late afternoon

(51:51):
through the early evening, can actually decrease the cortisol anxiety
chemistry so that things have calmed Down, and you then
will have a greater chance of drifting off into into
a peaceful recovery. Sleep. So with with thinking about there
the main things. Anything else, uh, is probably at this

(52:14):
stage a tried but unproven. If it works for you,
please do it. And if it doesn't, consider some of
these sorts of ideas.

S2 (52:23):
Oh, David, you talk about, uh, you know, it's not
good to be too hot when you're trying to drop
off to sleep. Is that why we do have more
difficulty sleeping during summer?

S7 (52:31):
It's it's a way of. Oh, dear. I'm going to
have to put that air conditioner in that I promised
I was going to have for years and years and years.
Or can I, can I get over it? It will
the fan work etcetera, etcetera. But yes, it is part
and parcel of that, that the body is overheated. It
needs to cool down.

S2 (52:47):
And with that bang on about the melatonin thing, I'm
sure you told us quite some years ago that some
airlines are actually providing melatonin to their, uh, flyers to
their passengers on board to help them sleep. I mean,
you talked about the eye mask, but so, I mean,
like you say, it's fairly ubiquitous in terms of the
the use. It seems like Australia, for whatever reason, have

(53:09):
singled themselves out to stop importing it or stop people
from importing it by customs.

S7 (53:15):
Yeah. Well, it's interesting that it almost all the international
airlines probably probably not Qantas, but not now. Once you're
once you're outside of Australia will actually open up and
sell you melatonin on the, on the plane and give
it to you, they'll sell it to you okay. However,
at the moment it might be risky to try and
bring it back through customs, so it's an interesting thought.

(53:39):
It's also relatively cheap. It's worth the risk to do it.
But yes, that's the reason they do it. They want
you to have a sleep while you're on board and
get where you want to go. So you feel good enough.
So you want to do it again and give more
money to fly again. So it's as simple as that.
And they've been doing that since the year dot. So yes,
we are the only country in the world that has

(54:01):
an embargo on melatonin for no good scientific reason.

S2 (54:05):
I asked this off air. Do you reckon there's a
chance that could change that sort of rule that.

S7 (54:11):
It one hopes that sense and sensibility will slowly creep
into bureaucrats and things might change. It's a hope. Okay,
let's start it up. Yeah. Listeners start praying.

S2 (54:24):
All right. Great to catch up. And that would be
workshopping ideas on there. But I wonder whether in the
future it might be worth talking about naps and whether
they help at all or if they're a hindrance, you know,
afternoon naps or morning naps or naps. Apart from the
regular sleep.

S7 (54:41):
Yeah. Sorry. They they often interfere with the night time sleep.

S2 (54:44):
Alright.

S7 (54:45):
The the body becomes very habituated to certain things and
hooked in. And if you get sleep during the day,
then you may not get to sleep at night. It's
almost like you've used up your quota of melatonin at
the wrong time.

S2 (54:59):
Okay, that's that idea done with. Thank you.

S7 (55:02):
Okay. Alright.

S2 (55:04):
Hey, David. Great to catch up. As I said when
we spoke last time, you certainly could bring it in. Uh,
that rule has now changed. So the information we gave
last time was correct as when we went to air.
But those changes have taken place. David, you've given us
some great alternatives. We'll catch up again for the last
time this year and next month.

S7 (55:22):
Yeah, look forward to that. Sleep well ladies. In the meantime.

S2 (55:28):
David Mitchell, they're now engaging, entertaining and very informative and
imaginative with ideas. Uh, our health commentator joins around about
this time each month. If there's an idea you'd like
David to tackle, get in touch and we'll put David
to work and hope everyone got their information regarding the melatonin,
that the 15 are words that can help out. We
had a lot of response to that. Hopefully you all

(55:49):
got it. If you haven't, if I've missed you, uh,
get back in touch and we'll make sure we'll send
it out to you.

S8 (55:54):
During Elite Company. Listening to Lashley here on Vision Australia Radio,
on the radio, the radio.org and through the TuneIn radio app.

S2 (56:22):
Ah, yes. Polly put the kettle on, which is very,
very kind and also very, very good because it means
we get to speak to Belinda Hellyer from Brewed by
Belinda the Brew. That is true. Find out more. Brew
by Belinda. Belinda. Welcome again. Thank you for your time.

S9 (56:36):
Hey, Peter.

S2 (56:37):
Now, last time we heard a little bit about the
fact that you had this wonderful opportunity thanks to the
SA Food and Beverage Fund to go to Korea. Tell
us a bit more about it. I guess you've had
a bit of a time to kind of reflect. And yeah,
you're free to sort of back on the ground. So
Some of the things that impressed you now that you
think back on it.

S10 (56:55):
Are I think one of the things that I've really
noticed is how the sort of hands on opportunities that
we had on the ground in South Korea, like how
much that's deepened my learning and understanding of all things tea,
because I guess, you know, you can read about, you know,
how to make tea with your own two hands, or

(57:17):
you can read about tea ceremony and, you know, imagine
what that's like. But until you actually, you know, put
yourself in that position and do it yourself. I feel
like you don't really, truly, really understand it. So I
think some of the things that I've really been reflecting
on is just having these different opportunities to do things

(57:40):
myself has just deepened my learning so much.

S2 (57:44):
So did you actually get to pick the tea or
more kind of work with it to kind of put
it into a sort of situation where people could drink it?
drink it. What did you actually do when you talk
about being hands on?

S10 (57:54):
So one of the experiences we had was, um, to
produce our own green tea. So we, we didn't actually
pick the leaves that was done beforehand, but we took
the freshly picked green tea leaves and turned them into
like a beautiful, light style of Korean green tea through

(58:16):
a process of kind of pan frying the leaves in
very hot temperatures, like, um, using your hands, almost like
in a wok style of big open pan over a, um, heat.

S6 (58:29):
Yeah.

S10 (58:29):
Toss the leaves. You're trying to get the moisture down.
You're sort of tossing the leaves over with your hands
and pressing them down onto the hot pan to get
the moisture out, and then it kind of goes in
some steps. Then you take that those leaves back to, um,
sort of a table where you roll them to sort
of roll out some of the moisture. Then you take

(58:52):
them back to the pan and pan fry them off
some more. And yeah, you go through these stages until you've, um,
you know, got it down to a place where the
moisture level is. Right. And then, um, there's the drying
process that kind of fixes the green and completely dries
the leaf. So, yeah, just having the opportunity to do that,

(59:13):
it was it was super hot. We were it was
a humid day. And, um, often tea pickers and tea
producers are working in really hot, humid conditions. So it
was a real reality check of like, this is hard work. This.

S6 (59:26):
Yeah.

S10 (59:27):
This is hot. This is sweaty. You know, you're working with,
you know, really hot temperatures as well. But yeah, just
having that opportunity to pan those leaves, to roll those
leaves and turn them into something that I could drink
at the end of the day was amazing.

S6 (59:42):
Well, what.

S2 (59:43):
Are they actually being? Uh, well, well, as you say,
fried or what are they kind of being heated up
in oil or.

S10 (59:49):
No, no no no no oil, no additives at all.
It's really just about getting the moisture out of the leaf.

S6 (59:56):
Like, okay.

S10 (59:56):
I guess it's a way of sort of drying the leaf.
It sort of working it, massaging the leaf a little
bit as you go. And through those processes of sort
of stopping the heating and going back to the table
and rolling the leaf, you're you're breaking down the enzymes
within the leaf and letting some of the flavor profiles
start to come out. So yeah, there's lots of different

(01:00:18):
techniques for making tea, but this was the one we
experienced on this particular day to make a very simple
style of Korean green tea.

S2 (01:00:26):
So the weather is hot. And of course then you've
got the, the pan with this, uh, hot or these
hot leaves in front of you as well. So it's
kind of a heat. Heat coming in every direction.

S10 (01:00:35):
Yes. And you're wearing, like, protective gear to a point, like, um,
special gloves, um, and kind of sleeves that go up
your arms so that none of your skin touches the pan,
so you know. Yeah, it was hot, sweaty work. I
was like, oh my gosh, this is you know, this
isn't easy. And gave me a whole new appreciation for
the tea in my cup.

S6 (01:00:55):
Yeah.

S2 (01:00:56):
Well, and I think, you know, we've spoken about this
in the past about kind of, um, you know, uh,
meditating or mindfully drinking tea. And I guess it's stuff
like that that you think, well, the, the work that
has gone into this tea that has now made this
cup of tea is just extraordinary, as you say.

S10 (01:01:11):
Yeah. And I think this is where sort of that
deepening my learning has, um, kind of come through in
a few ways. So yeah, that was one experience we
had making tea. We also had an experience making, um,
like a fermented aged tea, um, which was different again. Yeah.
Taking kind of tea leaves that have been steamed and

(01:01:34):
instead of drying them, you actually kind of mash them
in a mortar and pestle and like, smashed them down
and form them into little balls and then press them
into little, um, tiny tea coins. They were called fermented
tea coins, and this is a style of Korean tea
that is then aged over many years. Uh, so that

(01:01:55):
was a really great experience as well. Yeah. So it's called. Yeah. Uh,
fermented fermented Korean tea.

S6 (01:02:03):
Because I guess.

S2 (01:02:03):
You got to, you know, sort of, uh, neurons that
are very much into the way they make wines and
is they storing them, and you know that the better
they age, the better they taste for those people that
like that sort of thing. So I guess this is
kind of, um, you know, similar but different.

S10 (01:02:18):
Absolutely. This is exactly that, you know, this is, um,
you know, where the process of sort of aging tea
over many years to develop it's kind of flavors, but
instead of the tea being dry when you store it,
it's actually kind of moist. And that kind of encourages
like a microbial process, fermented, but not with any particular

(01:02:43):
bacterias or cultures, just those that are already inherent in
the leaf. Yeah. So it makes for some very beautiful tasting,
but very different tasting, um, teas. So some of the
teas that, uh, were stored at this particular place, you know, was,
were 20 plus years age. Um, so we drank some

(01:03:04):
tea that day where, uh, it had been aged for
three years. Yeah. So just something very different and just
that hands on opportunity to see it in and do
it was great.

S2 (01:03:15):
What about as far as, uh, I think you sort
of went into some of the fields as well didn't you?
The tea gardens, whatever the the term is tea orchard.
I'm not quite sure what the term is. You also
were out sort of right in the, in the middle
of those as well.

S10 (01:03:28):
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So we were, we had the great
opportunity to visit a number of different tea gardens or
tea estates, um, through the Boseong and Hadong regions. And yeah,
just the way that they, uh, Grow the tees off
and on, kind of sloping hills and mountainous areas. Um, yeah,

(01:03:49):
it was great. And there was one particular tea garden
that we visited that was completely organic and biodynamic and
just kind of the way that those tea farmers work,
the land and work with nature was phenomenal. And the
teas are some of the most beautiful ones. I tried.
So yeah, getting out into those gardens and meeting the

(01:04:12):
farmers was excellent.

S2 (01:04:13):
I think we might have touched on this last time,
but a number of the places you went are kind
of steeped in family history. You know, the parents and
the grandparents, uh, sort of handed down in a, in
a lineage. As far as the families go, these tea,
tea growing places.

S10 (01:04:29):
Yeah, absolutely. And they're really sort of working on, you know,
incentives to keep the young people in those kind of
tea growing regions. You know, a lot of the young
want to want to go to the city where there's
more opportunities. But you know, we discussed that there at
one of the research centers about, well, you know, what initiatives,
what strategies are there in place to try and keep

(01:04:52):
the young people, you know, in the sector of T
and innovating and bringing their kind of fresh ideas and,
and enthusiasm to the table.

S2 (01:05:00):
I guess it's kind of reflected a bit in Australia,
isn't it, with a number of, um, farms that, you know,
either the young people come to the city and don't
go back or, you know, it's so tough on the
farm that they choose not to, to stay there. So
I guess that's kind of mirrored in, uh, in those
t t growing places in, in places like Korea as well.

S10 (01:05:17):
Yeah. Like it's not the easiest, easiest job, but. Yeah.
And some of the other hands on things we got
to do were um, one of my favorite things was
just experiencing and learning a little bit about tea ceremony
in Korea. So we first viewed a tea ceremony at, uh,
the Mayan Wong Tea Festival. So there was like a

(01:05:38):
presentation where we experience like how tea was served to royalty.
And it was really beautiful and interesting. Um, you know,
in their traditional dress and, you know, just the sort
of stillness and precision of the way that the tea

(01:05:59):
was served and the etiquette around that, you know, to
the to the Queen. Like, it was it was a
presentation of of what it would have been like. But
then we also, a few days later, went to the
Miin Huang Tea Academy, which is one of the leading
kind of tea education academies in South Korea. And they
present the actual tea festival each year. We went to

(01:06:19):
their actual academy and got to go through that process
ourselves of of learning, you know, the ritual of Korean
tea ceremony.

S2 (01:06:29):
Fantastic. And I guess it's, you know, sort of semi
spiritual almost. It's it's not it's more than just, um,
you know, drinking the tea. There's a bit of almost
spirituality or, uh, you know, a bit more in it
than just, uh, just the extra T itself.

S10 (01:06:43):
Absolutely. I'd actually say it's it's probably more so about the, uh,
you know, these the spirituality and the etiquette, more so
than drinking the actual beverage, you know, about the the
preparation of the tea and the way that you drink
it and the way that you serve it and observing,
like the appropriate manners and, um, you know, just simple

(01:07:07):
little things, like, it's all very much a ritual. It's
all very prescribed. And yeah, it's, um, I guess sort
of closely connected to Zen Buddhism and these values of simplicity.
And for Korean Buddhists, tea evokes these four kinds of

(01:07:29):
thought being peacefulness, respectfulness, purity and quietness. So even those
words just kind of set this what this was like. Yeah.

S2 (01:07:39):
Very powerful words. Belinda. That's fantastic. And, uh, you know,
well done to you. As we touched on for people
that might have missed it. Uh, you've been waiting, what,
five years for this opportunity? Because you were granted the
money five years ago and because of Covid, etc.. You
had to bide your time while, uh, that all sorted
itself out, but you finally got to go.

S9 (01:07:58):
I finally got to go.

S2 (01:08:00):
Uh, now people can find out much more about what
you do. And, uh, also ordered tea from you. Uh,
where where can we find you?

S10 (01:08:07):
So online at brewed by Belinda. Com.au or you can
give a phone call 0419 839 702. Those are the messages to
get on to me.

S2 (01:08:18):
Now, Belinda, last December, you gave this wonderful recipe for
icy poles as something icebox that we can put in
the freezer and use tea to make them. Maybe next
month you can do something along those lines, maybe something naughty,
but nice that we can use tea, but also maybe
a little bit sweet that, uh, we can perhaps. Or
you can could perhaps suggest to us for for Christmas

(01:08:40):
and the holiday period.

S10 (01:08:41):
Sounds great. We can get a little festive with T.

S2 (01:08:44):
All right. That a great way to put it. Great
to catch up. Thanks for that. That was a really interesting.

S9 (01:08:49):
Thanks, Peter.

S2 (01:08:50):
Bloody hell. You're there from Brew to Brew, Bob Lynda.com
where you can find it all 0419 839 702. Was a big
week last week for our next guest, Josh Camden, who's
a very talented artist and filmmaker and lots of other things.

(01:09:12):
DJ and Josh is on the line. Josh, great to
meet you. Thank you for your time.

S11 (01:09:16):
Thanks, Peter. Thank you.

S2 (01:09:17):
Now, well, you did have a big week last week.
Tell us about your film liability. What was it like
when it screened?

S11 (01:09:22):
It's been amazing on the film. It's just fantastic. The
people just walked out without the film of it. Pretty chuffed.

S2 (01:09:29):
How were you feeling before? It was a little bit
nervous as to how people were going to react.

S11 (01:09:33):
Some people got fit confident side. So I never get
scared or anything.

S2 (01:09:38):
That's a great attitude. Well done. Josh. Just about the film.
It's called liability. What sort of part did you play
in this? You played a big role in this, didn't you?

S11 (01:09:46):
I yes, I have, I played as Kyle. He has
the problems with dealing drugs and sex and stuff. So
it's like people like like liability. So yeah.

S2 (01:09:57):
Did you come up with the idea of it?

S11 (01:09:59):
No, it was David Dowden and Jasmine Leach.

S2 (01:10:02):
And how did you get involved? Did they ask you
or how did that come about?

S11 (01:10:05):
Well, first off, it was I came to do a
liability workshop and started from there. And David just noticed
that I was doing my other friend. So when I
got back from work, David rang my mum and David
told me, you have the role.

S2 (01:10:22):
Fantastic. How did you feel when you were told that?

S11 (01:10:24):
I was so happy about it.

S2 (01:10:26):
If you had any previous experience in film?

S11 (01:10:29):
Yes I have.

S2 (01:10:29):
Do you think that held you in good stead? That
helped you kind of get the gig?

S11 (01:10:33):
Yes. that's right.

S2 (01:10:34):
Tell us a bit about the film though. It's kind
of got an interesting storyline, hasn't it?

S11 (01:10:37):
Yes, yes. That's a young man down syndrome dealing with
problems in his life. And he just himself basically.

S2 (01:10:47):
And what about the other person that's in the film?
Tell us a bit about their role, because that kind
of made me smile a bit. That role.

S11 (01:10:54):
It was Benji. He's the guy who acted in it.
He played as he was the.

S2 (01:11:00):
Like a support worker.

S11 (01:11:01):
He's something like that. Yeah.

S2 (01:11:02):
And I kind of described him as being a bit
awkward with, uh, with the way he was portrayed, which
I'm sure a lot of people with disabilities can identify
with this. Josh, when he's a person with a disability,
meet someone who doesn't know how to deal with it,
like they don't know quite how to talk to us
or don't know how quite to deal with it. And
things get a bit awkward, which can sometimes be funny,
but also sometimes it can be a bit intimidating as well.

S11 (01:11:25):
It can be both, but yeah, just.

S2 (01:11:27):
Do you think that kind of comes out in the film?

S11 (01:11:29):
Oh it does. It Sure it has on the film.
He always expresses his emotions and he's a really nice
guy to work with.

S2 (01:11:40):
What sort of feedback have you got from the film
and from people who saw it? What sort of things
have people been saying?

S11 (01:11:45):
The feedback from the people that they really loved the
film and they were laughing. It's just a great atmosphere.

S2 (01:11:53):
Yeah. I think you had more than one screening. Didn't
you have three screenings last week?

S11 (01:11:57):
Yes, I have. I've been on different major films. The
first one was SBS You Can't Like That, which is
me and Rachel.

S2 (01:12:07):
Okay. That's a really good idea. That show, isn't it?

S11 (01:12:10):
Yeah.

S2 (01:12:11):
For people that mightn't be aware, this is when, um,
people like yourself and Rachel get on there and people
ask questions that other times people might feel a bit
uncomfortable asking.

S11 (01:12:20):
Yeah, something like that. Really? Um, easy to answer those questions.

S2 (01:12:23):
Did you enjoy it or was that a bit intimidating?
What was that like?

S11 (01:12:26):
I quite like it, actually, because I have to answer
the questions like, um, I can work with that.

S2 (01:12:32):
So you got to think on the spot a bit, though,
that you.

S11 (01:12:34):
Yeah.

S2 (01:12:35):
And what about the other film? That's the second one.
What about the third one?

S11 (01:12:38):
It was mostly Stephanie, which I got the main part
of that. I played as Mickey in that film, thanks
to Andre Gaston. He's the cameraman and the director of
the symphony.

S2 (01:12:50):
Now we're having a quick chat before coming to where
you're very busy and talented person. What other stuff have
you done? Because this is through 2D, the liability, isn't it?
But you're also involved with a number of other theatre
groups and a number of other organisations in the art space.

S11 (01:13:03):
Yes, I have um, the past, which is, um, the
Boys of Men, the Men of Shadows project. Yeah, there's
two from Adelaide and three from Sydney.

S2 (01:13:13):
Fantastic. Now, you talked about your mum letting you know
about the fact that you got the gig for liability.
What sort of support has your mum been?

S11 (01:13:20):
She's been supporting me through doing the film and the
film as well. She's been wonderful doing job by doing that.

S2 (01:13:27):
I bet she's a pretty proud mum of you, though, Josh?

S11 (01:13:30):
Yeah, I bet she was.

S2 (01:13:32):
I also do a bit of work, don't you?

S11 (01:13:34):
Yes I am, I'm a DJ. I do work as
a club comedian organising about the future club nights.

S2 (01:13:44):
Yeah. Heartbeat's very popular, isn't it? You get a lot
of people along to that, don't you?

S11 (01:13:47):
Yeah. All my friends just rock them. Just have fun. Yeah.

S2 (01:13:50):
What sort of music do you play, Josh?

S11 (01:13:52):
All genres.

S2 (01:13:53):
What sort of music do you play when you are
the only one that needs to listen? What's your sort
of choice of music when it's just just for you?

S11 (01:14:00):
For me, I put on original songs. Get on the
beat with myself.

S2 (01:14:06):
Cos you're a very proud indigenous man yourself, aren't you?

S11 (01:14:08):
Yes I am.

S2 (01:14:09):
And how's that been for you? Do you find that
people are much more accepting these days than maybe. I
know you're only a young man, but do you find
that people are pretty accepting?

S11 (01:14:17):
Are they? They are actually. They're very supportive throughout the year.
It's just fantastic, you know.

S2 (01:14:22):
And I reckon art plays a big part in that.
If you can connect with people through art, doesn't matter
what color your skin, it doesn't.

S11 (01:14:28):
It doesn't matter what color your skin is, just all
shapes and sizes or something like that.

S2 (01:14:34):
All abilities doesn't matter. It's all art that we're all
that we're all loving. Yeah. Joshua. Unfortunately, we didn't speak
to you before the film because we would love to
provide it, but it didn't sound like it needed it.
So it's all right. You know what might happen to
it now with liability? Might it be available, I know,
on YouTube or something. What do you think?

S11 (01:14:50):
Yes there is. You can watch it just for the, um,
funding video.

S2 (01:14:55):
Okay.

S11 (01:14:56):
Yeah.

S2 (01:14:56):
So I'll see if we get a link and we
might put that up with our show notes so people
can go to our show notes and check it out
via that way. Thank you so much for speaking to us.
Congratulations on all you're doing. I reckon we'll speak again
in the future, because you're doing so much that I'm
sure we'll catch up with you again, but thanks for
spending a bit of time with us and congratulations on
on all the wonderful stuff you've achieved.

S11 (01:15:15):
Josh, thank you so much. Peter.

S2 (01:15:16):
That's the Josh captain there. Very talented artist and also
star of the film liability. We'll get a link to
that and put it up so people can share it
as well. But really great of Josh to join us
and put under people at Turin. Thanks to Laura also
for her support too. On the Eastern Australia Network through
your favorite podcast service on 1190.

S8 (01:15:35):
7 a.m. in Adelaide, you're listening to leisurely.

S2 (01:15:40):
Well, dub. Adelaide is putting on a conference coming up
later on in November. Let's find out a bit about
it with one of the organizers, Will Turner. Well thanks, Tom.
Great to meet you.

S12 (01:15:50):
Nice to meet you. Thanks for having me on.

S2 (01:15:51):
Yeah. Tell us a bit about Adelaide. Who are you
and what do you do?

S12 (01:15:55):
Yeah. So, Adelaide, uh, we are the Adelaide branch of D-d-d.
There's deeds that happen all over the world. Uh, and
we are just the people that decided to organize one
in Adelaide. Uh, it's essentially Adelaide's largest community run conference
for the tech community. Uh, the goal of it is
to create an approachable event that appeals to the whole community,

(01:16:17):
especially people that normally don't get to attend or speak
at conferences. And the conference is run on a Saturday
and strives to be inclusive of everybody in the Adelaide
tech community all the way from, you know, graphic designers
through to people that look at accessibility through to actual
software engineers and, you know, people in more specific roles.

S2 (01:16:37):
I believe you've been going for a while, but this
looks like being your biggest and best event so far.

S12 (01:16:42):
Yeah. So we've slowly grown. This will be the third
year in a row that we've done an event. Uh,
and this will be our biggest one, but we are
really trying to keep it something that doesn't get too
big and really focuses on that community aspect of running
an event.

S2 (01:16:56):
So rather than, say, the big corporates or that sort
of thing, you're looking a bit more kind of grassroots.

S12 (01:17:02):
Yeah, 100% like the I think it's very Adelaide, um,
to remain grassroots. So we just want to keep that going.

S2 (01:17:09):
Yeah. Well, uh, plus not a minus in a situation
like this. So access and inclusion isn't necessarily your kind of, um, your, uh,
you know, wheelhouse, as it were, but but you kind
of like to include it. Is that how it goes?

S12 (01:17:22):
Yeah. So the thing is, with a lot of tech
events is they maybe don't have as much inclusion for
some of the more specific areas of tech. Um, so
when I when I say that, I mean, you know,
people that maybe look at accessibility on a website or
on an app or something like that, it's like a
very niche, very specific skill set. And often, uh, events

(01:17:45):
maybe only specifically cater for that skill set or don't
cater for it at all. And what we try to
do at DD is make sure that there is something
for everybody. I'd say the way that we do that
is through everything at DD is driven by the community.
So what we do is we put a request out
for people to speak. Um, that's already happened. So if
people are interested in that, you'll have to wait till

(01:18:07):
next year, I'm afraid. Uh, and then once people have
put in their presentations, we run a voting, uh, system
and the entire community, everyone in Adelaide really, um, can
vote for the presentations that they want to hear or
the speakers that they want to hear. Uh, and then
what we do is we collate those boats and we, uh,

(01:18:28):
order them into the people that got the most votes.
And they're the people that you'll hear on the day.

S2 (01:18:32):
Okay. Can you give us a bit of a snapshot
of who we will be hearing from?

S12 (01:18:36):
Uh, so our agenda has been published and it is
available on the website, but we've got our keynote speaker
who is, uh, Geoffrey Huntley. Um, and he's doing a
speech or he's talking about the future belongs to people
who just who can just do things. Um, we've got
speakers that have been here before, such as Ryan Craig

(01:18:58):
and Amanda Pitcher. They've spoke a few years previous, as
well as Tom Ridge. Uh, and we've got a whole
host of, of new speakers that we haven't heard from
before that are all from really Adelaide based companies, or
they reside in Adelaide and maybe work for a remote company.
But yeah, there's some there's some really cool names and cool,

(01:19:19):
cool talks on the agenda.

S2 (01:19:21):
Now, I don't think we've said where it is so
physically yet, have we?

S12 (01:19:24):
No, we actually haven't. No. So, uh, we have held the, uh,
event at Adelaide University for the last, uh, three years.
And that's where it will be this year as well. Yeah.
We have maps and everything on the website. The important
thing to note is that you can't buy a ticket
on the day. All of the tickets have to be pre-purchased.
The ticket price is $60. Uh, and that's for the

(01:19:47):
whole day is access. We have three streams of talks
across the day, so it's a bit of choose your
own adventure. And that $60 also includes your food for
the day. So you get morning tea, you get lunch
and then you get an afternoon tea. Okay. Yeah. And
we have a coffee sponsor. So there's a coffee cart
there all day just to keep everyone awake.

S2 (01:20:08):
Yes. Well, that's very important sometimes, uh, you know, particularly
the afternoon sessions. If you've been there a little while,
you can, you know, get the eyelids, get a little
bit heavy.

S12 (01:20:16):
Exactly. Yeah.

S2 (01:20:18):
That's it. Is it a Q&A or just presentations? How
does that work? Will.

S12 (01:20:22):
Yeah, so it's really up to the speaker. I would
say most speakers do a Q&A session at the end.
As I've said, some of them, it's maybe their first
time speaking. And so we don't pressure people to do Q&A.
It's purely optional. From last year, I would say pretty
much everyone did a did a Q&A session and you
get some really interesting questions, especially for talks where the

(01:20:45):
speaker has gone into like a real niche specific part
of what it is they've done. People want to know
a lot about, uh, how things were achieved or why
decisions were made.

S2 (01:20:55):
Yeah, well, you got me a bit intrigued. The D
stands for.

S12 (01:20:59):
So actually stands for developer, developer, developer. And ah, you
you put me on the spot here because I can't
remember his name, but he worked for Microsoft was the, uh,
I'm pretty sure the CEO for a bit. And he
was in an event at Microsoft led event and got
very sweaty shouting developer, developer, developer. Um, because he was

(01:21:20):
trying to explain that what they were, what they were
about to do was, uh, all developer focused, and it
was all about developers. Uh, and I think that's where
the D-d-d name came from. Originally started in the UK
and then the UK. Uh, people that started it basically
put a bit of like a, this is how we
run and this is what it means. And it just

(01:21:42):
allowed everyone across the world to create their own events.
And so yeah, you'll find GDS pretty much in every
corner of the world I reckon.

S2 (01:21:50):
Yeah, I know that, uh, kind of outside the sort of, uh,
regular happenings of the conference. You've also got, uh, I
know for sure someone that's going to be demonstrating a
bit of screen reading. So I guess people get a
bit of an idea of that, that kind of access
and inclusion or those sort of needs or the, the
abilities for people who might not be able to see
the screen to be able to read it as well.

S12 (01:22:11):
Yeah. That's it. And I think that's, uh, what I
was mentioning at the start is that there's aspects of
some of our talks that maybe developers don't think are important,
or maybe just get pushed a bit further down. The
kind of development line and what the talks aimed to
do is kind of bring awareness about those topics such as, uh,

(01:22:35):
you just mentioned that, you know, a little effort in
terms of, you know, making it your page, uh, more
screen reader ready, uh, could actually go a long way
for the people that, you know, do have accessibility requirements
when it comes to using technology.

S2 (01:22:51):
And of course, it's about, uh, if you can do
it from the ground up, as in when it's being constructed,
rather than trying to renovate the, uh, the site, that
that's a really important thing as well.

S12 (01:23:00):
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So I guess it's a it's a
lot around what can people and to be honest, the,
the talks they get voted the most are the ones
where people go, oh, I don't really know much about that.
And I would love to hear you know, what their
take on it is or what their opinion on it is. Uh,
and that's why I think we get a lot of, um,

(01:23:21):
you know, accessibility related or, uh, you know, even recruiter
related talks. And I don't mean that as in, like
a recruiter trying to sell you. It's a recruiter just
talking about the industry and trying to help you understand
what businesses need versus what you're offering as a potential
candidate and how to kind of join those gaps. So, yeah,

(01:23:42):
there's some really interesting stuff that that gets spoken about.

S2 (01:23:46):
I guess expanding your knowledge, expanding your horizons and kind
of opening up to new ideas as well, because the
old saying, you know, you don't know what you don't
know exactly.

S12 (01:23:54):
You don't know what you don't know. Uh, and I
think that leads on to the, the final. Well, another
big part of BDD for me is that you don't
know who you don't know, which. Um, yeah. The the
whole day is a big networking experience. Um, we encourage
everyone to say hello to everyone else. Um, there are some,
you know, very, I would say not well known names

(01:24:17):
around the circuit that are speaking this year, um, that
work for companies such as, you know, Atlassian, uh, Land Services,
SA APA, you know, there's some there's some big. Yeah, big,
big names in there that I think, you know, networking
with those people, they can really share some, some good
industry insights.

S2 (01:24:36):
Some of the real heavy hitters as they like to say,
well how can we find out more.

S12 (01:24:40):
Yeah. So the best way to find out more and
to kind of stay in the loop is to head
to our website. Com on there you can see the agenda.
You can purchase a ticket. You can also find our socials.
Uh and you could join our email subscriber list. Um,
our email subscriber list. We promise no spam. We try

(01:25:01):
to keep our emails down to just, uh, the information
that you need to know, because we know everyone's inboxes
are very busy, but it does keep you in the
loop of exactly what's going on and any important dates
that are coming up.

S2 (01:25:15):
So the 22nd of November. So in this next conference
is which is a Saturday. We're good to talk to you.
We'll put those details up on the show notes. And
thanks for speaking to us. We know now know a
little bit more about it, which is great.

S12 (01:25:27):
Thanks very much Peter.

S2 (01:25:29):
So we'll turn it. There is one of the organisers
for the Adelaide conference on the 22nd of November. D
d d d d Adelaide comm. Those details, those details
up there show notes. And as always, if you have
any difficulties please give us a call here at the
radio station. Now, for the first time in 34 years,

(01:25:52):
I've asked someone to ask someone to ask about AI
and their tip for the Melbourne Cup. So here goes.
And of course, a lot can change between now and
Tuesday afternoon when they say racing. So just bear that
in mind. Okay, we're going to go buckaroo for our
tip on top from Valiant King made our third. We'll

(01:26:13):
see how also half yours goes with Jamie Carr. Jamie
Mullan on board. Maybe ten years after Michelle Payne, we
might get another woman jockey winning of course Stevie Payne.
What a great job Stevie did, both in real life
and also in the film. And we'll also put one
smooth operator in as a bit of a rough but Buckaroo,
our tip on top for the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday

(01:26:36):
all care, no responsibility. If you're having a go, please
gamble responsibly but have a bit of fun as well.
Now we have a couple of quotes. Here's one from, uh, Lorien,
who sends one through. Lorien says no matter what people think,
sing your own song. Reckon that might be a bit

(01:26:57):
of a disciple of Alice and Davies there. So thanks
for that. And here's one from Marie who says if
I don't, having grandchildren was so good I would have
had them first. So thanks, Marie, for four. You're quite
some birthdays before we go. Adriana petrakis. Awesome. Adriana Petrakis
having a birthday. Happy birthday to you, Andrew. I think

(01:27:18):
we've got some big news with Adriana coming up soon.
Hopefully we can share that with you very, very soon.
But happy birthday, Adriana. Stacy Williams, featured at the Sydney
Paralympic Games in the pool. Did particularly well having a birthday.
Dylan Littlehales doing very great things on the water these
days as a Paralympian. Happy birthday Dylan. Justine van Osten,
having a birthday, spoke to Justine back in 1992 when

(01:27:42):
she went to the Madrid games. And of course, those
great things in the air of arts now, Justine, so
happy birthday to you, Justine. We wish you well. Paul
Mugambi having a birthday on you, Paul, over there on
the African continent, a wonderful advocate in many, many areas.
Happy birthday to you. Paul spent some time in the
Act here in Australia and some are Giddings very talented singer,

(01:28:06):
always having a birthday summer. A very big happy birthday
to you. That's it for the program. Stand by for
listening on 1190 7 a.m. in Adelaide because Vicki Cousins
is here, as I always say, more than ready, willing
and able to present Australian Geographic. Sam Rickard, thanks so
much for your help. Pam Green, thanks so much for
your support, James and Kev, thanks for your support helping

(01:28:28):
us put this fabulous program to air and doing it
so very, very well. Really appreciate that. Be kind yourselves,
be thoughtful and look out for others all being well.
Let's look back at the same time next week on
Vision Australia Radio and the Reading Radio Network. This is
leisure link.

S13 (01:28:56):
Woo hoo! Woo hoo!

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