17 May 2025

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:16):
It's just gone 5:00 and with Guy Joe representing Australia
at Eurovision, we go with Leslie here on Vision Australia
radio 1190 7 a.m. Adelaide, online at Radio.com Radio Digital
in Adelaide and Darwin through the TuneIn radio app. Through
the Community Radio app. Look for Vision Australia, Radio Adelaide

(00:38):
your favourite podcast or streaming service if you're listening through
103.9 FM in Esperance in Western Australia, a big hello
to you if you're listening to Reading Radio Network in Tasmania,
an equally big hello to you. And of course we
get wonderful support from Disability Media Australia. Thank you for
your support. You can find out much more about them

(00:59):
on Power Media media. Find out much more about them,
including download link. Peter Greco saying wonderful to be here.
Thank you so, so much for making time to listen
to us. This program coming to you from Ghana land
come to you very shortly. We'll speak to Russell Leary,
the father of Lexi, who captured all our hearts at

(01:22):
Paris and Nepal with some wonderful performances, world records, gold medals.
What's it like being a dad of a Paralympian and
in particular the the life story that Lexi has had
will share that with Russell and also an opportunity for
you to get involved supporting the Paralympic movement as they
look towards future Paralympics. So Russell very soon also catch

(01:45):
up with Janette Barrett and also Claire Basket. They're just
back from the National Lawn Bowls Championships for athletes who
are blind or low vision. How did that go? How
did they go? We'll find out very soon. Adriana Petrarca's
Adriana has just been representing Australia in the sport of
tennis in Astana in Kazakhstan. What was that like? Adriana

(02:06):
always doing lots of wonderful things. Pam Mitchell will join us.
Our resident counsellor. Pam's topic today is the highs and
lows of life. I think we can all identify with that.
Pam will join us. We'll also catch up with Doctor
Tessa Boyd-caine with a really interesting and important conference, a
sensitive conference being happening at the moment, domestic violence, particularly

(02:28):
amongst partners, particularly in younger people. So Doctor Tessa will
tell us much more about that. And Professor Linda Malyshkin
will join us from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. Some
really good news as far as some medication coming on
to the PBS. For people with endometrial cancer, that may
be good news for you or someone you love. It

(02:54):
was a wonderful time in Paris, particularly for our swimmer
Lexi Leary, who won gold medals, broke world records. What
was it like for a parent? Let's catch up with
Lexie's dad, Russell Ross. Great to meet you, and thanks
for your time.

S2 (03:08):
No worries Pete. I love being on. Yeah. What an
amazing journey from a girl that was never meant to
walk or talk again. Three and a half years ago.
To go to Paris and win a gold medal. So emotional.
And it was quite crazy. In the morning, she broke
the world record in the heat. And she never swims
a faster heat than she does in the final. So

(03:28):
that night we're thinking, oh, the American has got her
on the ropes here. She came out and broke the
world record again, and one that was quite crazy.

S1 (03:36):
Now you were there, Russ. That must have been an
enormous thrill.

S2 (03:38):
Yeah, there was after in about 27, 27 of us
all family, friends. It was amazing. All dressed up like, uh,
Steve Irwin's park kangaroos and bloody everything.

S1 (03:49):
Yeah, well, Lexi did remarkably well, as you pointed out.
We expected her to do that. Well. I mean, her
form had been good, obviously, to have qualified for the
Australian team, but did she even surpass path that you
and her expectations.

S2 (04:02):
Oh, she definitely did like. Yeah. I think that the
hardest thing that happened, she had to race the first
race for 50 upper grade. And this is where the
American popped out of nowhere, and she beat her in
the 50. And then we realized that the American was
an F-9, not an F10. So that means Alexa had
to challenge her in the 100. But thanks to Mollie
O'Callaghan and a great email, a great message to Alexa,

(04:25):
it fired her back up and she thought, that's it,
I'm going to go for it. But to break two
world records in the days unheard of and win a
gold medal.

S1 (04:32):
Now, as you said in in 2021, Lexi had a
serious cycling accident. Take us through that. And I mean,
I guess the the recovery from that. Yeah, it is
quite a story.

S2 (04:45):
Alexa wanted to be a pro triathlete and she wanted
to go to Paris as the triathlete now, whether she
made it or not. But she was going quite well.
Coming down the hill one day, 70 K an hour
clipped a wheel. Over she goes. We were told that
day clearly that if she gets to Brisbane alive in
the helicopter, she will be. She'll have no quality of
life and if she's lucky to walk or talk again.

(05:06):
So we had five months in the hospital, three months
in rehab. She started to use swimming as a rehab
and we ended up taking her to Adelaide, actually to
the Australian titles. That's where the para team picked up
on her and put her in the development squad, and
it all went from there.

S3 (05:23):
How tough were some of those times for us?

S2 (05:25):
Very tough, very tough because she had to learn to
do everything again. She didn't know how to brush her teeth,
comb her hair. She lost all her hair because they
took a scalp off on the first night, because it
was swelling so heavily, and it ended up having to
put a shunt in to drain the fluid from the brain.
So her whole life had to start again. And she's
got brain damage. And this is the issue. You know,
people don't see it. She looks great up on stage,

(05:47):
but she's got a traumatic brain injury. And that's why
we're so grateful to Paralympics, you know, to get Alexa
on this journey and get her to Paris. And without
that we would not have the girl we've got today.
So we're very grateful for what they do.

S1 (06:01):
It's a very powerful message. What about in terms of
getting through some of those tough times? I guess you
support each other. What about from outside the family circle
who kind of played roles in that rehabilitation?

S2 (06:13):
Oh, everybody. You know, we lived in neutral. It's like a, um,
it's a great community. She was working at F45. They
got behind it. Remember, we left two boys for five months.
For 3 or 4 months. You know, they had to have, uh,
you know, people taking food around to them, looking after them. So,
you know, everybody got behind her, and then, you know
that the whole of Australia got behind her. We started

(06:35):
the foundation called Move the Legs, which because she couldn't move.
So let's get others moving. And it went viral, which
ended up raising 300,000 for the RW, VH.

S1 (06:43):
That's incredible.

S2 (06:44):
I said the main one, the main one that, uh,
got got behind her is Paralympics, you know. You know,
they got all the right people in place for her,
the coaches, the specialists, you know, the everybody. So we're
very gifted. And that's why I'm saying it's a great foundation.

S1 (07:02):
What about the way Lexi conducts herself on television and
just generally, uh, you can't help but love her? I mean,
you're right. That's that's the stupid thing. That's the stupid
thing to say to you. But you know what I mean?

S2 (07:13):
Look, I think what happened, that she's so raw and
her brain doesn't have a filter, so, you know, she
says it how it is, and sometimes it's got to
be some VIPs coming out, but it's. And she's raw. And,
you know, she captured the hearts of the nation because,
you know, not many people have ever come from where
she was to win a gold medal. So all of

(07:33):
Australia was behind her, which was incredible.

S1 (07:36):
And the fact that you as a family were prepared
to share the story. I mean, I often say, Russell,
you never know who's watching who or who is listening. And,
you know, one word, one sentence that someone utters can
mean so much to someone out there listening or a
member of their family.

S2 (07:51):
Oh, 100%. We get a lot of people come to us.
What would you do in this circumstance? You know the
child's had an accident. We quite regularly go to the
Royal Brisbane Hospital to check on the Ada South ward there,
where we talk to parents and talk to people, and
people reach out all the time. But, you know, there's
the thing just you never give up. That was the thing.
We just never gave up.

S1 (08:11):
I know that obviously Lexi had been a promising athlete anyway,
but do you think that kind of helped with the
rehabilitation and and the determination and the resilience?

S2 (08:21):
Oh, she was a spirited athlete, I'll tell you, the
best leg was the swimming and triathlon. So she'd always
come out of the water first. But um, yeah, it
was that spirit would come clearly on the night of
the accident that if she wasn't young and fit, she
would not be with us.

S1 (08:34):
What's that like? I mean, without sort of rehashing old times.
I mean, what's that like? Because, I mean, you know,
everyone says, you know, the kids aren't supposed to go first.
It's not right. That's not the order of procedure that
should be followed. But when you're told that sort of news,
I mean, you, you kind of think, is this just
is this just is this a dream or is this
a nightmare?

S2 (08:54):
No, no, the nightmare was. It was, um. And it
went on in ICU for 12 days, you know. Every
day we left that ICU. We didn't know whether we
were going to come back to her the next day
or not. Basically, you know, one of the last days
where they had to take the breathing tube out because
of infection and pneumonia, and she was breathing on her own,
but not a lot. And you know that that day

(09:14):
they took another guy through about the same time. And,
you know, we hear the coughing spluttering ended up breathing.
But the poor other gentleman, he passed and the doctor
said clearly to us, well, we thought that was going
to be Alexa. So it did. It's tough to listen
to that stuff and go through it.

S3 (09:30):
It's incredible, isn't it?

S1 (09:31):
What about so Paris was an incredible, uh, situation. And
of course, uh, quite a bit has happened since Paris
in terms of the, the media attention and the recognition, uh,
the Australian welcome home. Have you gone with all that, Ross?

S2 (09:45):
Yeah. And it was great. Like the love that she
loves the line like she did before the accident, you know,
after the accident. And she's been great because she's trying
to help promote, you know, the Paralympics charity. And she's
behind all that. She's very good with disabled children and
talks to them and helps them, you know. So, you know,
and she handled it very well. She does public speaking.

(10:05):
You know, she gets a bit tripped up. But people
understand she's got brain damage and she inspires people. She
inspires a lot of people.

S1 (10:11):
And when she's talking to kids that know her story,
it's got a got a bit more believability than an
IT or a physio telling them, hasn't it? You know,
she's been through it. So she's come out the other end.
It's got a lot more cred.

S2 (10:23):
Oh, 100%. You know, and your parents see Alexa and
they look at their child in the ICU and they go,
how will my child ever come out? And it gives
them faith. You just gotta, you know. And the doctors
will tell you the worst they have to because that's
what could happen. And you just gotta have faith.

S3 (10:40):
Hey, respite.

S1 (10:40):
What about the fundraising side of stuff? Lexi sewed herself
into this campaign as well.

S2 (10:45):
Yeah. It's amazing. And she really wants it. And we
never realized until a few months ago that it was
a charity. We just took it for granted that the
government paid for all the travel and accommodation, uniforms, coaches,
all the staff. We just took it. You know, government
paid it. Government paid the bit. But we then said, well,
let Leary family get behind it and push it and

(11:08):
educate people that the para need the support of the public.
And that way that will get our athletes to LA,
to the world titles, and we'll get other athletes involved
in the long term.

S3 (11:19):
Because.

S1 (11:19):
There's probably only one Lexi Ross, I'm sure of that.
But there's probably other athletes out there almost as good
or almost as deserving or that could get that opportunity.

S2 (11:28):
And you did. Right. And with this, the fundraising that
we're doing that will help these children, they'll be inspired
by Alex and it'll give them the journey. Because there's
children today that don't understand. They're going to LA games
because they haven't had the accident yet. Exactly like Alexa.
Great point about when para she thought you were going
to Paris as a pro triathlete and she goes as

(11:49):
a para swimmer. So, you know, people today don't know
that they're going. And that money then will support these
people to be able to get there. But it's very
important that the Australian public understand that the Paralympics needs money.

S1 (12:02):
It's a fantastic message. Hey, Russell, what about for you?
Obviously success has been good. You've got a bit of
limelight yourself. You don't handle it too badly. You enjoy it.

S2 (12:11):
How about getting blown away to give you the drill?

S1 (12:13):
Well, fair enough.

S2 (12:14):
You know, but we don't mind sharing our story, giving
it out to everybody. Because if one little thing can
help somebody, we're happy. Because when we went through it,
we didn't understand. We didn't have people to lean on.
And we're happy for people to lean on us and
we'll help.

S1 (12:27):
It's a great attitude, Russ, to you and your family
and to Lexi, of course. Congratulations. Thank you for spending
a bit of time with us. And yeah, we can
all get behind the Paralympic appeal. It's a great idea,
as you say. You just never know who might be
representing Australia in the future. So thanks for spending the
time with us.

S2 (12:42):
Thanks, Pete. You're an absolute legend. Cheers, mate.

S1 (12:45):
Russ Cleary, the father of Lexi O'Leary, a couple of
gold medals and world records at the Paris Paralympic Games
and the Paralympic Appeal. We'll put details up with our
show notes. Well, the national bowls championships for athletes who
are blind or have low vision have just wrapped up
in Western Australia. Let's speak to a couple of people

(13:05):
who did very well at it. First of all, Jeanette. Jeanette,
thank you for your time and congratulations.

S4 (13:11):
Thanks very much, Peter.

S1 (13:12):
Two gold medals.

S4 (13:13):
Yes.

S1 (13:15):
Well done. And you're a director who probably needs all
the credit. Is that Clare basket? Clare, thank you for
your time.

S4 (13:21):
Thank you.

S1 (13:22):
How did you get involved with lawn bowls and how
long ago was that?

S4 (13:24):
Um, it was 23 years ago, and I was playing golf,
and one of the ladies at golf said, come on,
we're having a fun day of bowls. Come and have
a go. And then I never stopped from there. I
kept playing golf and bowls.

S1 (13:38):
So this is blind golf or golf for people who
are blind?

S4 (13:40):
Um, no, I didn't have. I had my sight then.

S1 (13:43):
Okay, so.

S4 (13:44):
I was only in the last ten years that my
site's been going.

S1 (13:48):
What's that adjustment been like to play now with a
vision impairment compared to when you had sight?

S4 (13:52):
Well, yeah, it is a bit different, but, um, I
do get a lot of help from the club. All
the members, um, tell me my distance and and tell
me how short I am or how long I am.
And my line. So they're all good.

S1 (14:06):
And, Claire, how did you get involved being a director?
How did that partnership come about?

S5 (14:09):
Well, Jeanette's my sister. Oh, okay.

S1 (14:12):
Well, yeah. Okay.

S5 (14:14):
And I bowled at the same bowling club as her.
And as she was starting to lose her sight because
I had helped the intellectually handicapped before, I knew about
the blind bowlers and how they worked. And so I
was able to give her some guidelines. And then I
talked her into joining the blind bowlers herself.

S1 (14:34):
Which club is that? Claire.

S5 (14:35):
Edenvale bowling Club in Melbourne.

S1 (14:37):
And it sounds like all, uh, or a lot of
the clubs give very good support to those who are
blind or low vision Television to play.

S5 (14:45):
They do, they do. Um, it's a very accepting sport
to play, you know.

S1 (14:51):
What about your success in Mandurah in Western Australia? Tell us,
tell us, how were you bowled? You got five minutes
to do all the bragging you want.

S4 (15:01):
It was very exciting and they're all lovely people. It
was just great. Yeah. I think my background knowledge of
bowling before I lost my sight gave me some insight.
I won three club championships and and pairs and mixed
bowls at the club before I lost my sight. So
I have that background of knowing how to bowl, which

(15:23):
some of the blind bowlers I bowled against are just
learning as blind bowlers, which makes it harder for them.
But they're doing well, they're doing well.

S1 (15:32):
So I think it's an advantage to have bowled before
and then adjust your sight loss, but sort of keep
the the muscle memory of being out of sight.

S4 (15:40):
And keeping fit.

S1 (15:41):
Yeah. And it's obviously very important. And that's the great
point that Jeanette makes, because the nationals, they're pretty full
on in terms of the amount of bowling you do,
aren't they?

S5 (15:50):
Oh my goodness. I didn't think my body was going
to get through. Very intense, very intense. Two and three
games a day for eight days straight is a lot
of a lot of strain on your body. And as
we get older it doesn't get any easier. But yes, it's, uh,
we got through on Sunday. We were a bit down

(16:11):
and we didn't think we were going to make it, but, um,
Monday came and that only meant that we had two
and a half days to go. So then it was fantastic.
From then on.

S1 (16:19):
The finish line was in sight.

S5 (16:20):
Absolutely.

S1 (16:22):
I Clare, when you go to a place like Mantua,
obviously you have a look around. Are there things that
you can kind of pick up on at a place
like that that you can, uh, convey to Jeanette that
might be different from, say, bowling at home?

S5 (16:34):
Yeah, certainly the length of greens can always vary. Mantra
was 32m. It was 33. I've bowled done some that
are 40m long. So we walk it out first and, um,
make sure that she's got an understanding of the depth
of the green and what sort of surface you're playing on,
whether you're playing on grass or synthetic or inside carpet,

(16:57):
outside greens. There they all run differently. But that's the
same whether you're blind or you're not blind. And anybody
that's going to a new club takes all that in.
But because Jeannette hasn't got her sight, we walk it
to feel it and and get the feeling of the distances.

S1 (17:14):
And that's all stuff that you kind of learn as
you go along. Part of the experience.

S4 (17:18):
Yes. It has been. Yes.

S1 (17:20):
Because, you know, you say to me 32m compared to 33,
I'm thinking, well, what's, what's a meter like? That's not
really much of.

S4 (17:27):
A difference in the weight. The weight and the line
are the most important things involved. And so Clare was
very good. She was really brilliant as my eyes. She
just told me if my line was just out, she
might say. Just two inches. And then she'd tell me
I was two metres long, so I knew I had
to take that weight off. So she was very good.

(17:50):
Couldn't have done it without her.

S1 (17:51):
No. It's very kind of you to say that. Now,
I understand that, like two inches off or two metres long.
I kind of understand that. But then how do you
kind of translate into how you bowl? I mean, is
that just through experience?

S4 (18:03):
Just through experience? Yes. It's also Jeanette.

S5 (18:07):
Doesn't realise that she does adjust the way she bowls
a little bit, that she either doesn't bring her arms
through as quick or, you know, if I was to
say you were ten metres through, she just would adjust
her arm swing to not go as fast. Yeah, probably
something she does automatically, but I noticed straight away, as
soon as she's bowled.

S1 (18:26):
Happy to share a bit of your thought life with her.
So what was the situation that had you losing some sight?

S4 (18:33):
I've got macular degeneration because I'm 91 years old.

S1 (18:37):
You are not.

S4 (18:38):
I am, Yes.

S1 (18:41):
Oh, I tell you what, Jeanette. I mean this in
the most, you know, kindest way. I hope I sound
like you when I'm 91. You said about. You said
about 51.

S4 (18:50):
Well, I'm still very fit, so that's got me through
the eight days.

S1 (18:54):
But it's amazing.

S4 (18:57):
So I've got macular degeneration. I've got no central vision
in both eyes. So when I can see, um, the light,
there's they put lines on the green. So I use
those to get my line. But once the bowl's down,
I lose sight of it. So I go back to
Claire and she tells me how it's going.

S1 (19:16):
Has your thought deteriorated over the years?

S4 (19:18):
Yes, yes, yes, it started ten years ago and it's probably, um,
as worse it'll get. So I've just been to the
ophthalmologist today, and he said, the bad news is it's worse.
The good news is, it probably won't get any worse
if that's a word. And, um, so I'm happy because
I'm coping.

S1 (19:37):
So there's categories out there for lawn bowls. There's B1, B2, B3, etc..

S5 (19:43):
Yeah. Then b4 yeah.

S1 (19:45):
What what are you doing at B3. Okay. Yeah. So
so you've got. Yeah. Well so I've got.

S4 (19:50):
I've got a provisional vision. Um peripheral vision. Peripheral.

S1 (19:57):
Yeah. So, so people with RP for example, have got
tunnel vision so they can see straight ahead. But you've
got the, the opposite sort of. That's right, that's right.
Does that matter for lawn bowls I guess people with
my condition can play.

S5 (20:11):
Yes definitely.

S4 (20:13):
Definitely.

S5 (20:14):
And get it out there for us please. It's, um,
just such a wonderful thing to go to a carnival
like we we've just been at, and everybody's got a
different story of how they've got there and and how
they've overcome things to, to be able to bowl. It's
a beautiful sort of.

S1 (20:32):
Things are important, aren't they? Because if you're losing your
sight or you've lost your sight, you might think, well,
you know what's next for me? Oh, woe is me.
But I guess meeting people like you, that that kind
of picks up their spirit and think, well, if Jeannette
can do it, then I can do it too. That's right.
Sharing that message.

S4 (20:48):
Yes. One of the ladies there, um, was thinking about
giving it away, and she said she was inspired by
me because she's a lot younger than me, so she's
going home to practice.

S1 (20:58):
Ah. That's fantastic. Well, and I'll tell you what, you
not only inspired by you, but your performance is two
gold medals. Was it best, uh, best ladies or best
bowler overall?

S4 (21:09):
Yeah. That's right.

S1 (21:10):
Oh, gosh.

S4 (21:11):
And I've just been to the club and they've got
balloons and signs and. Oh.

S1 (21:17):
Fantastic.

S4 (21:17):
Is that. Yes. Look, anyone who wants to get into
bowls doesn't matter whether you got or you haven't. It's
just a great sport. You meet lots of people. If
you only want to play social, you can do it.
But I'm very competitive. So I love pennant and I'm
still playing pennant.

S1 (21:34):
Oh, that's. that. So you play against the other people
who are who got signed?

S4 (21:38):
Yes, I play with sighted people. I play and I
played lead. Now, I've always used to play third. Yeah. But, um,
it feels good because I don't have to worry about
balls in my way or just set it up.

S1 (21:51):
So you bowl first.

S4 (21:52):
Yes.

S1 (21:53):
What about your role, then? What's it like out there?
Because I guess, you know, you can give all the
instructions you like, but sometimes it doesn't quite turn out.
I mean, it sounds like Jeanette is very good at it,
but sometimes it doesn't quite work out. How do you
kind of respond to that? What? You have to be
a bit of a psychologist out there as well.

S5 (22:08):
Yes. And a positive person helps the the positiveness of
that ball didn't go how we wanted it to. I
know you can do better or you know just that
encouragement to for the next bowl. Don't think about alright.
You put the bowl down hasn't worked. Let's get on
with the next one and think about that instead.

S1 (22:27):
There's only us three here. No one's listening. Do you
ever have to be. Do you have to be a
little bit stern sometimes?

S5 (22:32):
Well, she told. She told me I'd pick her up,
but I don't. I have missed her.

S4 (22:38):
That's what sisters are for.

S1 (22:39):
Of course. Well. That's right.

S4 (22:41):
Oh, it's an interesting stat. Jack McShane won the indoor
World Bowls at 19. At 91 Jeannette won the Green
Bowl as National. So you just turn the 19 around.

S1 (22:53):
Oh what what's what 72 years between.

S4 (22:57):
Yeah that's right. Anyone at any age can bowl.

S1 (22:59):
Okay. That's a really important point isn't it, that, you know,
years ago, maybe people thought, oh, lawn bowls is for
older people, but that's not the case.

S4 (23:08):
No. Not anymore. All our, um, champions now are young,
but it's great. It's great. And they play with us.
We've got young people at our club and they're happy
to play with us. It's. It's all good.

S1 (23:20):
Very inclusive.

S4 (23:22):
Mm.

S1 (23:22):
Very good. Yeah. One of the interesting things about lawn
bowls is, I mean, I, I speak to people who
play all sorts of blind sports, uh, football, cricket and
other Another sports, goalball, etc.. I mean, their equipment, if
you like, is adjusted for their vision impairment, which is fantastic.
But in lawn bowls that's not the case, is it?

S4 (23:41):
No, no, the only thing that we have is we
have every two meters down the side of the green,
a number which gives us the meterage. So when I
play with Claire, she's my skipper. She says when the
jack's down, that's 25m. So I know the length that
I've got to try and bowl to.

S1 (24:00):
That's fascinating. And that that, for example, wouldn't happen if,
if you weren't playing that that marker isn't there normally.

S5 (24:08):
Yes.

S4 (24:08):
Well, when I practice I use big white buckets. So
I instead of rolling to the jack I roll to
these white buckets. That's my practice.

S1 (24:17):
Because you can see.

S4 (24:18):
Them. Yeah I can just see them. But yeah I
certainly can't see the jack. But yes.

S1 (24:23):
Tell us a bit more about what happened to the
club today then.

S4 (24:25):
Well, because we only come home from Perth Tuesday. Yeah.
I just wasn't going to bowl today. I was just
need a bit of a rest from bowls.

S1 (24:34):
So I figured. Fair enough.

S4 (24:36):
I just walked in and they've got balloons. They've got
big signs. Jeanette the champion, and and they're all cheering.
And then they came in three cheers. So it was
really lovely.

S1 (24:48):
What's that make you feel?

S4 (24:49):
Oh, very, very humble. Very humble.

S1 (24:52):
Well, it says something about you that the club would
go to the effort to do that as well, though.
So as I say, that says a lot about you.

S4 (24:59):
But it was very inspiring just meeting all those lovely
people who are out there. You know, some are completely
blind with their guide dogs and they're just lovely people
and they're just happy to be there. It was just yeah,
it was very inspiring the whole tournament. And that was
my first one.

S1 (25:16):
I was going to ask you about that because, uh,
you know, these have been going for years and years
and years. So this is the first time you've turned
up to nationals?

S4 (25:23):
Yes. That's right.

S1 (25:24):
It sounds like it won't be the last.

S4 (25:26):
Well, I've got to keep fit. I've had to go
back to the gym and get keep myself fit.

S1 (25:30):
And I guess that's one of the things about lawn bowls.
It does keep you fit. Now, I guess if you,
you know, maybe starting out, it'll help you get fitter
as well.

S5 (25:38):
Yes. And it's a company. It's not only the the
sport itself, it's the company that goes with it because
you always go back in and have a break for
afternoon tea, have a chat and sit with your teammates
or the people you're playing against, and it's just a
great place to make friends. You can go to any bowling.

(25:59):
Once you belong to a bowling club, you can go
to any bowling club in Australia and walk in and say,
you're having a social day that I can join up
while I'm staying here. And it will always be, yes.

S1 (26:12):
That's fantastic.

S5 (26:13):
That seems from the locals that maybe other people wouldn't.

S1 (26:17):
I guess the club rooms is probably a little bit
of shaking that goes on. You know that good natured stuff.
What about out on the green? Oh, yes. Do you
talk much to your opponent? Do you try and put
them off.

S5 (26:28):
No, don't try and put them off.

S4 (26:31):
They were just a bit of shit going on.

S1 (26:33):
It adds to the atmosphere.

S5 (26:34):
Yes, it's the atmosphere and the and the and the
way it's played. It's played in a great jovial joking.
And then you get on the mat and that's when
the seriousness starts. Well.

S4 (26:48):
If you're playing for your club.

S1 (26:50):
Yeah. Now what is your club's name? Give us that
because we're sending material.

S5 (26:54):
Paedophile bowling club.

S1 (26:55):
Oh, you said that before, right? Well, have you got
a president or anyone that you like to send a
special shout out to?

S5 (27:01):
Go, Janette. Look, they were all very supportive. We're putting
little stories on Facebook every night, and we get comments
from them, and that that buoyed us on and kept
us going. But everybody was behind us every day.

S4 (27:15):
And I did. I did have another sister that came
with us. She came as a team manager.

S1 (27:20):
Oh my goodness. It's keeping the family.

S4 (27:22):
Three sisters. Yes.

S1 (27:24):
Well, tell me what you would have run amuck. amok.
I reckon.

S4 (27:27):
We did.

S1 (27:28):
Me mate, you're still trying to recover, I hear.

S5 (27:31):
Yeah, well, they did call her the pocket rocket.

S1 (27:34):
Okay, she that and it's been lovely talking to you.
It's been very inspiring. Uh, may you both for many
more years. And congratulations to everyone on their performances. We'll
put some details up with our show notes as to, um,
how people can get involved if they're listening anywhere around Australia.
If they'd like to get involved with buying balls, we'll
put the details up. But we wish you well and

(27:54):
I'm sure we'll speak again in the future.

S4 (27:56):
Thank you very much, very much.

S1 (27:58):
Peter, how good was that? That's Janette Barrett, who won
two gold medals and best bowler overall, and also her
director and sister, Claire Baskett, took rather than to join
us and all those details about bond balls up with
our show notes.

S6 (28:13):
Hi everyone. I'm Alison Davies, I'm a registered music therapist
specialising in using music to support our brain to function
at its best. You're listening to leisure link with Peter
Greco on the Vision Australia radio network.

S1 (28:30):
Well, if you're a regular listener to the program and
you should be. A few weeks ago, we caught up
with Andrew Petracca's, champion tennis player who was off to Kazakhstan.
Andrew on his back. Andrew. Hello.

S7 (28:42):
Hello, Peter.

S1 (28:43):
How are you going? You're still with the triple A?
Always awesome. Adriana.

S7 (28:47):
Yes. I'm awesome. Thank you. How are you?

S1 (28:50):
Uh, not quite as awesome as you, but I can
only aspire to be like that. How was Kazakhstan?

S7 (28:55):
Kazakhstan was an amazing experience with my tennis success and
the cultural experience in Astana.

S1 (29:07):
Now let's talk about it. We'll talk about the cultural
experience because they're probably equally important. How did you go
playing tennis?

S7 (29:13):
My tennis went very well and there was a successful,
tough competition against Different countries that I competed on the
indoor hard courts.

S1 (29:29):
Tell us about some of your results.

S7 (29:30):
My results were that I had most of the wins
and there were small losses. But something really remarkable that
I would like to say about my World Tennis Championships
was that I won two silver medals, one for women's

(29:53):
doubles and another one for women's team event with Kelly Wren.

S1 (30:00):
Fantastic. Well, congratulations. Well, Kelly Wren is certainly.

S7 (30:03):
Peter.

S1 (30:04):
Kelly. Wren has been a highly recognized and decorated player
for many, many years.

S7 (30:09):
Yes she has. And my other results from Kazakhstan were
that I came fifth overall in both singles and mixed
doubles with Damien Phillips.

S1 (30:23):
What's Damien like to play with? Is he a good teammate?
Is he good to play on the court?

S7 (30:27):
Yes, he's from Coffs Harbour.

S1 (30:30):
Oh, fantastic. It's a lovely place and they get good
weather there, so I'm sure he'll be playing tennis there
right through the winter. What about your performances? Did you
think you played well? Were you pleased with that? I mean,
two silver medals. Of course. You got to be pleased.
But were you happy with the way you played?

S7 (30:45):
Yes. I felt impressed with my performance. And there was
some tough challenges from where I played against tough opponents.
So it was pretty good for me to learn that
positive experience, because I kept fighting hard and I remained

(31:10):
my composed and positive attitude on the court and off court.

S1 (31:18):
That's one of the things we've learned about you, is you.
You never give up. You play right till the end,
which is a very good quality to have. What about
some of the thinking? About what? About some of the
players you played against? Did you play some players that
you'd never played before in the past?

S7 (31:32):
No. Um, I've played um, the other same players in
the past.

S1 (31:38):
Okay. I do feel like you're improving against them. Can
you sort of sense that? You know, last time, compared
to this time, you're playing better, you've improved.

S7 (31:45):
Yeah. I'm improving every day. I would say.

S1 (31:50):
That. I know your dad was over there. What about
in terms of coaches or support staff and kind of
people helping you with your tennis? Who was over there
from that point of view?

S7 (32:00):
In my Australian team, there was Alison Scott, the national
coach from Queensland.

S1 (32:08):
Oh yeah. I've spoken to Alison before. Yeah.

S7 (32:10):
James Schubeck, the team manager from Melbourne, Amy Shepherd, the
physiotherapist from Melbourne, and Steve They mainly the inclusion tennis
coach from Sydney.

S1 (32:24):
Yeah, I've spoken to Steven before as well, so it's good.
Some well known names and I guess it's great that
you feel like you're there with the physio. You're there
with a, a team manager, a coach, like you're being
treated like an elite athlete, which you should be.

S7 (32:38):
Yes. And in total, my team there were eight. There
was me the only South Aussie Kelly Wren, New South Wales,
Damien Phillips from New South Wales, Archie Graham from Queensland,
Timothy Gould from Queensland, Hayden Ballard from Queensland, Hunter Thompson

(33:02):
from Queensland and Amaan Ramadani from Queensland.

S1 (33:08):
Yeah, Queensland were well represented weren't they?

S7 (33:10):
Yes they did. It was for my tennis Australian team
obviously for three. classifications or categories of intellectual disability, down
syndrome and autism.

S1 (33:27):
Yeah. Yeah. Speaking about that, uh, last week on the program,
in the last couple of weeks, I've spoken to some
members of the pearls and the boomerangs basketball teams, and
they're off to the world Championships of basketball in Kazakhstan
next month. So Kevin started doing a good job in
that area. They.

S7 (33:47):
Yes. Kazakhstan's committee has been doing a great job for
organizing on time, and the event is pretty unique, prestigious
and so successful.

S1 (34:04):
Certainly sounds it. Now tell us a bit about Catholic
Stan and where you played and what the conditions were like,
and even maybe the food.

S7 (34:11):
I played on the indoor hard courts at the Dollet
Tennis Centre in Astana. Yeah. Do you mean the conditions
of the indoor hardcourts like surfaces or not?

S1 (34:26):
The surfaces? And also, what about just outside? What were
the conditions like as far as sort of weather and
that sort of thing. Transport.

S7 (34:34):
Getting around on the indoor hard courts at the tennis centre,
the surfaces were pretty good as my team and I
got used to it slowly. The surface wasn't fast, it
was slow.

S1 (34:53):
Does that suit your play, do you think?

S7 (34:54):
I don't know.

S1 (34:56):
Well, you did well, so we'll say yes. What about
just getting around transport and the people of Kazakhstan? And
how did you find all that?

S7 (35:04):
We went on the bus, so it was excellent. And
from your other question beforehand, I would say the weather
was gorgeous, like it had a coolish type of weather.
It was warm on different other days and it gets

(35:26):
very cold at night time, which is okay.

S1 (35:30):
Did you get a chance to kind of try some
of the food and the different sort of cultural experiences
of Kazakhstan?

S7 (35:37):
The food was so delicious. My favorite foods were the
meat pastries.

S1 (35:45):
Okay.

S7 (35:45):
A doughnut named Busak. I like the apple pastry, and
I like the Kazakh, um, souvlaki type, which is called
a chicken shashlik kebab.

S1 (36:01):
Ah, well, being of Greek extraction, uh, that would you'd
be a very good judge. You'd be very well experienced
in judging how good that was. Did you get a
chance to speak to some of the people from Kazakhstan
and kind of we've made to feel welcome. Was there
a nice, friendly environment?

S7 (36:20):
Yes. The people in Kazakhstan were very nice and welcoming.

S1 (36:26):
They tell us about your two silver medals. What are
they like? And you've won a lot over the years,
the short years that we've been speaking to you, that
you've been playing tennis, how would these silver medals rank
as far as how you feel about them?

S7 (36:39):
When I won my two silver medals in Kazakhstan, I
felt so grateful, privileged, humbled, honoured, delighted and highly impressed
with myself for my outstanding performances.

S1 (37:00):
You've got to be right to me. What are they like?
Are they a little bit heavy? The silver medals.

S7 (37:04):
The silver medals were pretty heavy.

S1 (37:09):
Terrific, Adriana. Great to catch up. Congratulations. Congratulations to the
Australian team overall for doing so well. It's a wonderful result.
Really appreciate you speaking to us I'm sure. Waiter I'm
sure it won't be too long before we speak again.
And I know you've literally just got off the plane
a day or two ago, so you take care and
we'll catch up again very soon.

S7 (37:29):
Thank you. Peter and I loved the battle monument in Kazakhstan.

S1 (37:35):
Just quickly tell us a little bit about that.

S7 (37:36):
My favorite place in Kazakhstan with the battle monument. And
I went inside the circus tent shopping mall, where I
love the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs architecture thing
at the same city.

S1 (37:58):
Fantastic. And when you finished playing tennis, you can become
a tourist agent. You can tell people all the good
places to go.

S7 (38:05):
That's a good suggestion, but no thank you.

S1 (38:08):
All right, we'll see. Never say never. Adriana. Take care.
Thanks again for speaking to us.

S7 (38:12):
You're welcome. Thank you. Peter.

S1 (38:14):
You got back from Kazakhstan with two silver medals and
also a very successful member of the Australian tennis team. Well,
Pat Mitchell is our resident counsellor, joins us every month
with some really interesting topics and unique ways of looking

(38:35):
at it. Pam, welcome.

S5 (38:36):
Hello, Peter. Hello, everybody.

S8 (38:39):
It's a touch of winter, isn't it?

S1 (38:41):
First, a little bit like it's coming on. Now I'm
going to say this is the most inclusive topic you've
ever covered, Pam, because everyone will be able to identify
with everything or something. What are you going to say?

S8 (38:52):
Oh my goodness, what a what a leading. We hope
we hope to achieve something here. And we're talking today
about just good news, bad news, highs and lows, disappointments, celebrations,
the contrast of these and the effects they have on us. And,
you know, I'm sure all of us have got moments

(39:14):
in in all of those categories. It's amazing what the
chemistry does to us, though, in those moments where one
minute the tide is in and the next minute our
body feels like the tide is right out and it's
taken us down the stream with it. So, you know,
just reflecting on some of those things today, when I
was thinking about what I might say for today, I
was just absolutely transported back into an earlier time in

(39:37):
my life where my mum would have to, uh, hide
my party dress. Um, because if somebody invited me to
a party and the invitation would come home to the
parents in much younger years, otherwise they'd be handed around
at school. But in earlier years. And she would have
to hide the party dress till the day of the party,
because I would get so excited about going to a party. And,

(40:03):
you know, the lovely party dress I was going to
be allowed to wear, that she'd have to bring it
out just like an hour or so before the party,
because I would actually, by the time of the party otherwise,
if I knew would just have a tummy upset, I
would not be able to go. I would get so
excited and I'd end up being sick. So it's just
extraordinary that, you know, from one level of sheer excitement

(40:25):
to the other of, oh, despair, because I'm not able
to go now because I'm so ill. Just the exact
opposite of what you want to be. But the chemistry
inside of me would just bubble up and take over
and not allow me to go. So highs and lows
can be extreme, or they can be less than that.
And I can say I've managed to curb my enthusiasm

(40:48):
for happy events now that I can make it to
the to the place when we're when we're actually talking
about other more worldly issues than my tummy upsets. And Pete,
we spoke about this earlier that you mentioned with the
with is the story, for instance, of the two astronauts
caught in space for after they'd done their duty up

(41:10):
there in the galaxy. Here they were, trapped in this
capsule for nine extra months. What an amazing circumstance that is.
Can we just begin to imagine the lows? Probably more
than the highs when you realize you're stuck there. And
what would be going through their minds is this, you know,

(41:31):
is the food going to last? Is it the air
that we have here in these outfits we need to
wear or not wear that you know, the sense of
no gravity and our our health. Everything about this just
the is the the apparatus going to keep working that
you just imagine the complexity of the issues that would

(41:54):
plow through their minds and the means that they had
between them to be able to buoy each other up
to cope with those highs and lows in that atmosphere.
And then the trip to get these other astronauts on deck.
Goodness knows how that happens. To help be with them

(42:14):
in support of how they reenter the Earth. Um, and, uh,
come back down. And yes, to be able to be
stretchered off. And then, uh, being able a few days
later to meet with their families and then their convalescence
out of that. But what I wonder, you know, I

(42:37):
think probably most of the world at times wonder what's
happened to them. We hear about that news initially, and
we go through all those highs and lows ourselves in
our own world. And then you think about where are
they now and what is what is their recovery entail,
and what part of them won't recover in their aging process,

(43:00):
in the the traumatic circumstances in which they've lived. How
much of that can actually, in their PTSD environment, just
go back into inverted commas? Normal. Where are they now?
What happens to that can only begin to imagine in
their chemistry set, what is triggered for them in closed environments,

(43:24):
or do they need space around them all the time?
I mean actual space, not space. Um, just to be
able to live and breathe and not be trapped in
a small environment. The mind boggles. So that encapsulates all
the highs, lows, disappointments, celebrations, good news, bad news and

(43:44):
where are they now? News. Just incredible. We much more
recently of course we've gone through the world has gone through, uh,
the sad passing of the much loved Pope Francis and
just what he brought to the world in in his
time as pope, Hope at being the peacemaker, being the

(44:04):
person that would mingle with the less endowed the poor. Um,
how he would make his own life, one where he
did not at all live in, what would you call it,
better than life experiences and facilities, but purposely would put

(44:25):
himself at a level that he felt still allowed him
to remember. All those that are less, have less means
in life and what he brought to the world, whether
you're Catholic or Christian or otherwise. He still had an
incredible presence. And it was interesting as we watched that

(44:48):
listen to that the lingering grief, the emptiness, the uncertainty
before a new pope, uh, was voted upon, where the
white smoke would come out of the chimney after four
votes of of black black smoke. I reckon one of
the winners in that process were the screenwriters and directors

(45:10):
of that film, conclave. And that was a mere coincidence,
because that film obviously was released so much earlier this
year than the passing of the Pope, but goes through
at a fictional, but some possibly reality of what happens
when there is a changing of the Pope and then
behind those locked doors and four votes later and we

(45:33):
have Pope Leo. And what you saw then was this
sheer joy. There's been a decision made. We have someone again.
And I can't begin to tell you, just in my
time over the last days where the number of people
have said, oh, but hasn't he got a nice face?
And there's just this feeling of hope, hopefulness. And he

(45:56):
looks like he's going to be good. And then we
see how Have different people in society claim him because
he spent, of course, in missionary in Peru, even though
he's an American born two decades. Look is sharing mission
with these people in lesser circumstances. And so people are
buoyed by that and thinking he's been in touch with

(46:19):
the real world. He's a real hope. He brings this
to us. And so they have this feeling of wanting
to celebrate and life after, and joy and hopefulness that
fills them in their chemistry set, which is just a
nice place to be. We have the lows at the

(46:39):
moment of not dissipating, but growing war in more countries
than what we're used to or grown used to in,
in all of its ghastliness of the Ukraine. But now
we have Pakistan. In India, we have the ongoing wars
in the Middle East. And this again to fix so

(46:59):
many of us that have loved ones in those areas,
those countries, or that we visited those countries, and we
have some attachment to that because we know what life
is like there and how that's changed. It affects the
way we function. It affects our mood states, the highs
and lows of any day. On a lighter note, it's

(47:20):
our sport for Peter there. It's about the teal and
the black and white. And for me it's about the red,
yellow and blue. And how that celebrating and jumping off
the couch and go, oh wow, look at this. This
is a win. And just being on that that high
and how wonderful that is. And then, you know coming

(47:42):
down in the days that follow wondering whether the next
game is going to bring an anti-climax. You think about
newly born babies and the chemistry changed. They always talk
about the mother on the third day. That's the blue day.
You know, that's the that's the bad day. And what
is all that about? Well, there is this build up.
There's this incredible build up for nine months of life,

(48:05):
let alone the pre-planning before that. Whether that's been a
natural circumstance or it's been one over years trying to
do that. But suddenly on the third day, something happens.
In reality, the baby's arrived. Everybody's in to kiss the
baby and celebrate and bring the flowers and whatever else.

(48:25):
And then life begins to return. And you see the
baby that's in your arms. And you love it so much.
But yeah, it makes noises and it doesn't settle and
it gurgles and it all the rest of the things
are happening, and we are drained of our natural chemicals
that alter our state to be able to cope with

(48:46):
those things. Weddings, funerals, all these things going on trips,
the planning of a trip and then coming home. And
the reality bites. Everybody's left the building after the funeral,
everybody's left the building and we're left with ourselves again.
And the chemistry set reminds us. So just when I'm
talking about chemistry, just briefly going into these highs and lows,

(49:08):
it's about the cortisol level in us. That is our
stress hormone. And when there are those peaks and troughs,
the chemistry set is released and it floods our senses.
And what you know that takes with it is at
any time from that buoyed up or that grieving process,
it takes with it our sense and sensibility to be

(49:31):
accurate about what we're hearing, what we're feeling, what we're smelling,
what we're thinking, whether we're confused, whether we feel numb.
It just floods all those areas. And that's what we
talk about in the chemistry set. When this changes because
of circumstance, we're dealing with this as well. And that's
what makes recovery sometimes more difficult. And just getting over something.

(49:53):
We just can't just bounce back and get over something.
We forget what floor we've parked the car on where,
you know, we're wondering about what we where we put
the keys. Uh oh. They're in the fridge. Why don't
do that. Yeah, we just altered in that chemistry as
a reaction to life event. And what is happening? What

(50:13):
can we do about that? Well, we can cut ourselves
some slack and recognize that they are normal things that
do occur to us in that chemistry set and that
we care. We care. That's why we have a reaction
to things. And isn't that wonderful that we care. And
then it's about taking self care about those things and
helping ourselves to recognize it's good if we're fatigued. Read

(50:36):
the signal and as much as we can to have
short rests. Power naps, if you like. Not long naps,
because that'll interfere with our sleep tonight. And we'll toss
and turn, and we'll worry more about how you are.
Some stretch inside your home, just stretching the body to
release some of the adrenaline buildup that's going on us,

(50:57):
in with us, and to be able to sit with
someone and talk with someone about what it is that
has troubled us so much that we have this incredible dip,
or that we're not coping with something like grief and
trauma that takes longer to return to some sort of
solid base, or feeling like we are in recovery mode.
The highs and lows of life will always be around us,

(51:20):
but it's our presence with that to recognize that something
alters in us at those times. Something that we can
actually offer and not ignore to help us in the process.
So the way we eat and sleep are the way
we hydrate, the way we release the build up of
endorphins and adrenaline so that we actually invite those happy

(51:43):
chemicals to be back with us, but in a way
that is balanced through exercise, stretch. Rest, sleep, restorative processes, balance, food.
All of those things will help us. But to enjoy
the highs. Do sit with yourself in your grief when

(52:03):
it's grief and allow yourself to grieve. But overall, let's
realize that life, yes, life does come with highs and lows, disappointments, celebrations,
good news, bad news. And to recognize that we can
sit with ourselves and we can make our peace.

S1 (52:20):
Um, wonderful. Thank you so, so much. Now people can
contact you if they'd like to consult you. 0418 835 767.

S8 (52:29):
Always on that number, Peter. Enjoy your weekend.

S1 (52:32):
Everyone enjoys the third week of each month. Contact Pam 0418 835 767.
If there's a topic you'd like Pam to cover, get
in touch and Pam will go to work for us.

S9 (52:45):
On the Vision Australia network through your favorite podcast service
on 1190 7 a.m. in Adelaide. You're listening to leisurely.

S1 (52:54):
All really important conference at the moment in Sydney. And
to tell us a bit more about it, we've got
Doctor Tessa Boyd-caine, who's the CEO for Australia's National Research
Organisation for Women's Safety. Just lovely to meet you. Thanks
so much for your time.

S10 (53:07):
Thanks for your interest, Peter. Hello.

S1 (53:09):
Now, we're half the week been. I know you've been
kind of front and centre. How's it turning out?

S10 (53:14):
Look, it's been a really fantastic week. Mostly because we
have focused on children and young people and their experiences
of domestic family and sexual violence and what we need
to do across services and systems to to support them.
But often that work is done about children and young people.

(53:35):
And what we've worked really hard to do with this
conference is to centre advice, guidance, support and expertise from
children and young people in the design of the conference
and right across the programme, as well as in participants
in the audience. And, you know, we've all got work
to we've got to learn how to do that better.
But I think we've done that really well, and we've

(53:56):
had really great feedback from the children and young people
who've been part of this program.

S1 (54:00):
That's really great to hear, because sometimes people can kind
of be invited or encouraged, but then they've got to
kind of meet the other side of the bargain, if
you like.

S10 (54:06):
Well, you know, Peter, I often think about that, you know,
kind of refrain or motto, nothing about us without us.
And of course, disability advocates have been at the forefront
of helping people understand what that means and what that requires.
And I hold that as a really important principle. So,
you know, I think organizations like mine, we have got
to keep learning. We've got to keep evolving. I don't

(54:28):
think we get it right all the time. But I
think we came into this conference with a really strong
commitment to center that expertise of children and young people,
because that was the topic. And I think we've, you know,
we've made some really important inroads. We've shared the stage,
we've given the mic, we've handed over the design, and
then we've really Encouraged our audience to to learn, to

(54:50):
listen and then to think about how we act on
what we've been hearing.

S1 (54:53):
I mean, even things like the Royal Commission for violence, abuse,
neglect and Exploitation of people with disabilities. The the one
into aged care. I mean, it takes a firm or
not a fair amount. It takes an enormous amount of
courage for people to speak up. I mean, they can
experience this wrong, but to speak up about it is
a whole different ball game.

S10 (55:12):
That's so true, Peter. And look, before I kind of
go on to respond to your point, we should acknowledge,
you know, this work is about domestic family and sexual violence.
And so you can't have those conversations and you can't
do that work without being exposed to traumatic material. And
so just to warn, you know, your listeners that that's
the conversation we're having now. And we've brought a really

(55:33):
strong lens around the impact of trauma to the conference. But,
you know, one of the things that we know is
that people with disability are often particularly vulnerable to gendered violence.
We know that children with disability within families are often
particularly targeted within a domestic or family violence context, and
we've got to be able to understand what that looks like.
We've got to be able to hear from people with disabilities,

(55:56):
as we do from anyone about their experience, and then
we have to make sure that our services, our policies,
our system responses can really understand that experience and make
sure that our responses are fit for purpose. And there's
a big attitude piece here as well. You know, we've
got some really good progress across the country in terms

(56:16):
of understanding that domestic family and sexual violence is a problem,
but we've still got some really big gaps in terms
of the work it's going to take from all of
us to be part of the solution.

S1 (56:27):
As you said, it's a difficult conversation but important. Can
you kind of with that obviously getting too explicit, can
you kind of explain what you're talking about? I mean,
is it literally physical? Is it also things like social media?
Can you kind of explain what what your sort of
focus is.

S10 (56:43):
Yeah. So well let let me use some of the
words and the language that we've heard from an incredible
group of experts, including children and young people, over the
past two days. So the first thing we know is
that people think about violence as physical. And yet the
evidence is really clear that when we're talking about domestic
and family violence, particularly, we are also talking about, yes,

(57:08):
we are talking about physical violence. We are talking about
sexual violence. We're also talking about emotional violence. We can
be talking about financial abuse. And there's this language that's
really come to the fore in recent years about coercive control.
And so coercive control is a really good example of
a form of abuse, of abuse that is present in

(57:28):
most almost all experiences of domestic or family violence. But
it's about the way control is exerted. And so that
can be a form of emotional abuse. It can be
a form of systems abuse. You know, control can be
exerted over people's access to income support and child support
payments to carers payments, and so coercive control reflects the

(57:52):
way people using violence exert control, not only physical violence
across the people that they are victimizing, the people who
are often surviving that violence.

S1 (58:03):
It's almost a form of blackmail.

S10 (58:04):
Well, yeah, I mean, for some people that is absolutely
what it is. But for other people it can be
really insidious. So, um, you know, we've got this growing, um,
attention on technology facilitated abuse, a recognition that lots of, uh,
software and, um, you know, programs that are being used
to put people under surveillance. And, you know, sometimes we

(58:26):
opt into those programs that become abusive. So we know
that for young people, they really like to use social
media and other apps that help them keep in touch
with where their friends are, that help them show up
to where their friends might be without necessarily having a
formal plan. And so they're using social media and other
apps to to keep track of each other. But those

(58:48):
apps can also be weaponized. They can also be used
by people using violence as a way to survey in
really inappropriate and really abusive ways. So you know what?
What we've actually been talking about at the conference is
that these are really complex experiences, and that they often
look very different depending on your context. They look very

(59:08):
different depending on cultural context, whether you live in regional
and rural communities compared to metropolitan communities. It looks different
for a 12 year old to a 22 year old.
But our services and our systems don't necessarily know how
to reflect that difference in our responses, and that's the
work ahead.

S1 (59:27):
I guess that's kind of a cool thing, if you
like the fact that we haven't got all the answers,
but we're here to listen and hopefully act.

S10 (59:33):
Yeah. Look, you know, do we have all the answers?
I mean, you know, I run a research organization, so
it might sound counterintuitive for me to be saying, I
don't think we need more research. What we've been doing
at Anna-rose is really bringing all of the research together
in in one place. So we have synthesized evidence over years,
and we have brought that together in one publication that

(59:55):
we've called in their own right, and that is looking
at actions to improve children and young people's safety from
domestic family and sexual violence. So there is a one
stop shop, if you like, that brings together all of
the findings across many pieces of research. But the next
step is to make that really actionable. And that's, you know,

(01:00:16):
the name of our conference has been listen, learn, act. And,
you know, research that just sits on the shelf is
not good for anyone. But we don't always write our
research in ways that make it really easy to implement,
really easy to act on. So that's really been our
focus of this conference that we're making sure that we've
got practical, tangible directions that can be taken by people

(01:00:39):
writing policy, by people working in services, and by the
broad community in terms of how our attitudes and our
behaviours can be protected, can make sure that we we
are preventing this violence in, in our everyday lives.

S1 (01:00:55):
That's such a great point, isn't it? Because you say
there's no shortage of reports around the place, but whether
people can read them and kind of nut out what
the you know, what the important stuff from it is,
is a whole new ball game.

S10 (01:01:08):
And that's really core to our own work as as
the National Research Organisation for Women's Safety, we've been really
entrusted with developing a quality and a rigorous evidence base,
and we've done phenomenal work where 12 years old and
the research landscape in this country has changed massively over
the past decade, and we've played a role in that.
But we're not the only one. There's lots of great

(01:01:30):
research happening right across the country. Some of it's community led.
Some of it is, you know, using approaches like action
research that really centers our lived experience and other forms
of experience. Lots of work happening in university and other environments.
So I think we've seen a real, really important and
really necessary growth in the evidence base about domestic family

(01:01:53):
and sexual violence. But yeah, exactly. To your point, Peter,
we've got to make sure that that evidence points directions
that enable systems change. And by systems change, we're talking
about the service environment. And in the service environment we
know there are specialist services that work on domestic family
and sexual violence every day. But we also know that

(01:02:16):
people seek help from the places that they have trust.
So we've got to make sure that our health services
know how to ask, are you safe at home? We've
got to make sure that our early childhood and our
education settings know how to look out for children's and
young people's safety, and know how to work with those
children and young people if there's concerns about what's happening

(01:02:37):
at home or in their relationships. So we've got to
be thinking about that's what we mean when we talk
about a system that we're bringing together all of these
different services and different approaches in a coordinated way so
that we're all working towards the same outcome, which ultimately
is to end gender based violence.

S1 (01:02:55):
Listen to Leslie Caron, Vision Australia Radio 1190 7 a.m.
in Adelaide and across the Vision Australia radio network. And
we're speaking to doctor Tessa Boyd-caine. Tessa, some of the
stats that, uh, you've put out in your media release,
I mean, having younger people in, you know, in my family,
if you like, in my circle of people. I know
that is quite scary, isn't it, to go through some

(01:03:17):
of those.

S7 (01:03:17):
Yeah.

S10 (01:03:18):
And and look, let me start with, you know, one
of the things that I think is just really devastating,
actually to see in very recent research, we're seeing very
high rates of intimate partner violence in the relationships that
young people are having. So, you know, one one study
that's just been published, looked at 16 to 24 year
olds and almost half. Almost 50% of those relationships had

(01:03:42):
people in those relationships had experienced violence with their intimate partners.
So that is a shockingly high level of violence. And
we have to really, you know, it just is such
a clear indicator that children and young people are direct
victims and survivors of this violence. And why it matters

(01:04:02):
that we recognize that is because for a very long time,
we've thought about children as witnesses to adult violence, particularly
in the context of violence in families. But the evidence
is really clear that children and young people are experiencing
this violence directly, and we have to ensure that our
responses are reflective of their needs, as well as the

(01:04:24):
needs of the mostly women who experience domestic and family violence,
and the work with the mostly men who are using
that violence to make sure that they are, you know,
that we're working with them to stop using that violence.
So so, yeah, I mean, your question was, you know,
how bad is it? And it's pretty bad. But one
of the things that we've been working really hard to

(01:04:44):
do in this conference is remember that there are bright spots.
You know, there are areas where we're making progress and
we have to maintain the hope because we all have
to play a role in ending this violence. And so
one of the things that gives me real hope is, uh,
in the attitude shifts that we're seeing in younger generations.
You know, one of one of Andrew's roles is to

(01:05:06):
run the National Community Attitudes Survey, and that's the study
that helps us track broadly across the Australian population. What
are our attitudes to domestic family and sexual violence? And
in that work, we are seeing that young people are
really leading the way in a broad understanding about what
domestic family and sexual violence looks like, that it's not

(01:05:29):
okay that relationships where that is a feature are not safe.
Healthy and strong relationships. And you know, those attitudes play
a really important role in, uh, enabling violent behaviors. And
so if we want to end domestic family and sexual
violence in a generation, seeing those attitudes shift with young

(01:05:50):
and emerging generations is a really important part of the
progress that we need.

S1 (01:05:54):
You talked about being around for 12 years and generational shift,
I guess, you know, in that 12 years, things like
social media and the, uh, the internet and the interconnectivity,
if you like, has sort of come so much to
the fore. So I was going to say, have things
got worse in that time? But I guess maybe can't
compare apples with apples as in today compared compared to
12 years ago.

S10 (01:06:14):
Oh look, I think that's such an important insight, Peter.
I think we would love to be able to do
a very kind of from then till now analysis. But
you're right, that's actually a really complex question to ask.
And I think about this often. You know, we think
about technology facilitated abuse. We were talking about that a
few moments ago. We know that as technology evolves, so

(01:06:36):
too people find ways to use technology to use violence.
But at the same time, the shifts, the evolution in
technology is creating incredible ways for people to stay connected,
for people to get information, for people to understand experiences
that they might not hold themselves but that they can
learn from. So that's a really like right. There is

(01:06:59):
an example of what we mean when we say this
is complex because it's not good or bad, it's about
how we use it. And so these, you know, these
idea about safety by design, this idea about bringing safety
into apps that might be ways to stay connected, helping
children and young people learn about the dangers of surveillance,

(01:07:21):
use those apps with, you know, really good knowledge about
how to maintain their own safety. That's actually the pathway ahead. And,
you know, we know history has told us many times over.
We might want to use prohibition. We might want to
ban things that we think are bad, but that often fails.
Often that's not a good way of addressing a problem,

(01:07:41):
and much better that we are listening and learning from
children and young people about why they like social media,
what apps they're using and how they're using them. And
then we give them the skills and the power to
use that safely.

S1 (01:07:54):
So we could chat for hours. I could listen to
you for hours. What about then from here on in
the conference wraps up. You have a kind of a
take home message. What's kind of the next step, then?

S10 (01:08:04):
Yeah. Look, you know, I said we called this conference. Listen, learn, act.
And the work ahead is how do we act on
what we've heard. So we want actionable strategies that shift
systems and services which are currently fragmented. We want them
to be integrated. We want them to be accessible and
we want them to be effective. And that means effective

(01:08:24):
for who? And so making sure that as we're thinking
about that. We're including children's and young people's expertise. That's
our first call. Our second call is that we see
huge scope for collaboration across sectors, systems and different forms
of experience. And so making sure that, you know, we're
thinking about these as complex problems that need collaborative solutions.

(01:08:47):
And then the third thing is that we're really equipping
practitioners in our services policy makers and the community generally
with the knowledge and the skills we all need to
respond safely and appropriately to domestic family and sexual violence
among children and young people.

S1 (01:09:02):
Such a powerful point you made regarding service providers and
people feeling confident and comfortable to, you know, to go
to them and get information or get the support they need.
I mean, you know that you don't want to be
betrayed twice.

S10 (01:09:16):
Exactly, exactly. We need to make sure that we're focused
on safety, and we're focused on support and healing, and
that we can all play a role in that, whether
that's in our, you know, Relationships at home with our families,
friends and neighbors. Whether it's what we can do at
work or in our community involvement, as well as how
we hold our governments to account to make sure that
we're all part of that change.

S1 (01:09:37):
Now you've got a website where people can get some
more information from. I had a quick look at it
before coming to air with you, Tessa, and it looks
pretty accessible, so congratulations on that.

S10 (01:09:45):
Oh thanks, Peter. Look again. You know, there's always work
to do, but we try. So thank you I really
appreciate that. So yeah you can find out more about
us at.

S1 (01:09:58):
That's it's been a privilege talking to you. Keep up
the great work. And I'd really love to be able
to speak to you again in the future. That's been
most enlightening. And, uh, well, certainly with the job that's
ahead of you, I think it's in very good hands.

S10 (01:10:10):
Thanks so much, Peter. Great talking to you.

S1 (01:10:12):
That's doctor Tessa Boyd-caine from the Australian National Research Organisation
for Women's Safety. Their conference on at the moment will
put some details about that up with our show notes.
I'm really delighted to welcome to the program, Professor Linda
Malyshkin from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute. Linda, my colleague doctor,
thanks so much for your time and appreciate you speaking

(01:10:33):
to us.

S11 (01:10:34):
It's a pleasure.

S1 (01:10:35):
Now you've got some really interesting and seemingly maybe pretty
good news regarding, uh, those that may be suffering from
endometrial cancer.

S11 (01:10:43):
Yes. That's right. Over the last few years, we've seen
more information come to light about the potential benefits of
immunotherapy treatment for women diagnosed with advanced endometrial cancer, in
addition to our standard treatment of chemotherapy.

S1 (01:10:57):
Now, maybe we could start with endometrial cancer. I believe it's, uh,
one of the most common in terms of reproductive cancers.
And sadly, uh, the prognosis isn't all that great.

S11 (01:11:08):
Well, it's variable, definitely correct that it's the most common
of the gynecological cancers, although probably people hear more about
other cancer types like ovarian cancer and cervical cancer. But
cervical cancers, you know, one of the cancers we hope
might even be eliminated in the future with screening and vaccination.
But unfortunately, endometrial cancer is one of the cancers that

(01:11:31):
seems to be rising in incidence around the world. And yes,
is the most common gynaecological cancer.

S1 (01:11:37):
And what about in terms of its diagnosis? Is that
a little bit kind of tricky? If I can use
a non-medical term.

S11 (01:11:43):
It can be tricky in some cases. So the common
symptoms that people present with might include abnormal vaginal bleeding
or abnormal menstruation. People may also sometimes have some pain
in their pelvis or vaginal discharge or some urinary symptoms.
And unfortunately these kind of symptoms are common in women.

(01:12:04):
So there may be challenges with women not going to
the doctor. And there may also be challenges with getting
the diagnosis made because the patient needs to be referred
to see a specialist gynecologist to have sampling of the
endometrium taken to make the diagnosis.

S1 (01:12:21):
Yes, well, we all know how hard it is to
get into get into all sorts of specialists these days.
So I kind of get what you're saying. And, you know,
with something like this time is of the essence.

S11 (01:12:30):
Yes. The earlier we, um, are able to diagnose women,
the better, because if the cancer is actually diagnosed at
an early stage, the outcomes are very good. So in
around 80% of cases, or four out of five women,
they will be diagnosed with early cancer. That might be
completely curable with a hysterectomy. But if women present with
more advanced disease, then, um, cure is not always possible.

S1 (01:12:53):
We'll talk about the good news from the TGA shortly.
But what about in terms of, um, the kind of, uh,
causes or some of the things that might lessen your
chance of getting it?

S11 (01:13:03):
Yeah. So we seem to have seen a rise in incidents,
particularly in so-called developed countries, in association with perhaps some
of our poor lifestyle factors. So it definitely gets more
common in, uh, people who are overweight or obese or
who have a sedentary lifestyle. It's also more common in

(01:13:24):
women who've had exposure to estrogen in their body for
a long time. So people who have periods for a
very long time and maybe never have any children. And
it's also, um, more common in people who get older.
And there's a small there's a small percentage, but it's
not very common of people who have a familial risk

(01:13:44):
or something in their own genes that predisposes them to
get endometrial cancer in association with a condition called Lynch syndrome.

S1 (01:13:51):
It's going to ask you about the sort of familial
connection as well, and any particular age that women are
most vulnerable at. Or is that not the case?

S11 (01:14:01):
So the most common age to be diagnosed is somewhere
in the mid 60s, but unfortunately we are seeing, um,
increasing rates of diagnosis in women at a younger age.
And we also see more common diagnosis in people, maybe
from disadvantaged communities both here and overseas, where perhaps getting
access to healthcare is also more difficult.

S1 (01:14:23):
Now, what about as far as, um, the news in
the last little while regarding some approval from the TGA?
Do you want to kind of explain what that is
and how that might impact on treatment going forward?

S11 (01:14:34):
Yes. So in the 20% of women who may develop
advanced or endometrial cancer that spread to other areas of
the body, our standard treatment for many years has been
to give chemotherapy treatment. And while that can quite often
shrink cancers, it's never something that results in very long

(01:14:54):
survival rates. And recently, it's been recognized that combining immunotherapy
with chemotherapy seems to significantly improve those outcomes. And currently
we have access on the PBS to the immunotherapy part
of the treatment just for a small subset of women,
20 to 30% who have a particular characteristic of their

(01:15:17):
tumor that makes them more likely to respond to endometrial cancer.
But the good news is that the TGA has now
approved listing of the drug for all women with endometrial cancer. So, um,
hopefully if we get to the point of getting the
drug approved by the PBS subsequently, then it will be
available to all women with endometrial cancer.

S1 (01:15:39):
They want to get people like you on experts. It's
really fantastic. And one of the questions I often ask is,
would the sort of conventional GP be aware of news
like this? And obviously it would be okay if a
patient goes to a doctor and said, look, I heard
about this on the radio or read in the paper
or whatever, could I qualify? Do you want to comment
on that in terms of, uh, I guess, the awareness

(01:16:00):
of news like this?

S11 (01:16:01):
I think our, our hard working GPS have a lot
to stay on top of.

S1 (01:16:05):
Definitely I won't criticising them. In fact, I empathise with
them very much.

S11 (01:16:10):
Yeah, they know they have a lot to keep on
top of. And um, I know that they do have
educational programmes and material that help them to get up
to date. I think now immunotherapies become much more common
in treatment of many cancers. Probably most GPS are familiar
with it, but they might necessarily not know the level

(01:16:30):
of detail about a drug like this being listed on
the TGA. So that's why these women need to be
seen by specialist medical oncologists so that we can discuss
options with them.

S1 (01:16:41):
We've heard a lot about immunotherapy. In more general terms.
Do you want to kind of explain what that is.
And then maybe in particular how this applies to endometrial
cancer and the news that you're talking about today.

S11 (01:16:51):
Yeah. So immunotherapy is really revolutionized the treatment of many
different types of cancer. The poster child has probably been melanoma.
What happens normally is that cancers, when they grow in
the body, have found a way to disguise themselves from
the body's own immune system so that our normal immune
system cells don't attack and fight the cancer. But some

(01:17:11):
clever scientists over the years have developed this these new
antibody treatments that basically unlock that process and allow the
body's own immune system to recognize a cancer cell as
being abnormal and give it a signal to attack and
hopefully try to kill that cancer. In some cancer types,
we can use that treatment by itself, such as in melanoma.

(01:17:34):
But in other types of cancers, combining immunotherapy with chemotherapy
seems to give a greater benefit. So in this study
that involved dostarlimab or gem, pearly is the brand name
of this new immunotherapy. It did cause a significant benefit
to give chemo plus immunotherapy. And on average, women who

(01:17:54):
had the combination lived about 16 months longer than those
who had our standard chemotherapy treatment.

S1 (01:18:02):
And that unlocking that you talk about, I'm assuming that
kind of key, if you like, is different for, say,
endometrial cancer compared to melanoma. Like it's not just one
not one key unlocks all the the benefits. If you like,
you've got a kind of crystallize the relevant bits that
that that'll work for the different cancers.

S11 (01:18:21):
Well, actually many of the many cancers are now responding
to the first line immunotherapy treatments that particularly target the
so-called PD one and Pd-l1 axis, but not all cancers do.
You're absolutely right about that. And so now there's all
sorts of new immunotherapy drugs in development trying to unlock

(01:18:42):
different keys as you've described. So I'm hopeful in the
future that there'll be more options for people. And ideally
we would like to spare patients being given toxic treatments
like chemotherapy because immunotherapy is usually much more tolerable.

S1 (01:18:57):
And sounding like it's maybe more or, you know, a
very effective as well in the right sort of settings.

S11 (01:19:03):
Yes, definitely. It's not to say that it's not without
side effects. Unfortunately, all of our cancer treatments do have
side effects. So it's really important that we discuss these
with patients so they can make an informed decision about
trying any type of treatment.

S1 (01:19:16):
And I think something like 3000 cases are diagnosed every year,
which is, you know, kind of when you boil that down,
it's about ten a day, which kind of hits home
pretty hard. What about in terms of research? Because often
we hear that the less well known cancers are the
ones that struggle to get funding for research. How does
this compare?

S11 (01:19:35):
Yeah, that's definitely the case for endometrial cancer and indeed
for gynecological cancers in general. Generally, there's been less research
opportunities for us to get funding for endometrial cancer. And
so we've been really trying to raise the profile of
endometrial cancer. We have an Australian and New Zealand group
called Anzsog or the Australian New Zealand Gynaecological Oncology Group, um,

(01:20:00):
who's trying to drive more research in endometrial cancer and
gynae cancer in general. And they've actually recently put a
submission to government trying to trying to get more funding
for gynecological cancers.

S1 (01:20:15):
I guess you won't see what the result of that
submission is.

S11 (01:20:19):
Yeah, I think one of the challenges, though, is for
some reason, which I don't quite understand, there's not really
the same type of support and advocacy organizations say for
endometrial cancer as exists for something like breast cancer. And obviously,
you know, breast cancer advocates have been a really powerful
voice to get more funding and more drug approvals for

(01:20:40):
breast cancer. And I'm not entirely sure why the same
hasn't happened with endometrial cancer. I think it's possibly because it's,
you know, a cancer of older women and involving, you know,
reproductive parts. Maybe there's a bit of stigma and women
think they should just have the hysterectomy and get on
with life. But also I hope that will change in

(01:21:01):
the future for sure.

S1 (01:21:02):
The question obviously coming for Amala and maybe I might
be way off track. There's endometriosis. Play any role in
endometrial Demetrius cancer.

S11 (01:21:10):
Not in the most common type of endometrial cancer, but
it does increase the risk of a rare subtype called
clear cell. And also other sort of gynecological conditions, such
as polycystic ovarian syndrome, do increase the risk of endometrial cancer.

S1 (01:21:27):
There's been a bit of breakthrough in recent months, hasn't there,
regarding endometriosis, hasn't there I think.

S11 (01:21:31):
Yeah, I think there have been some new treatment options
coming to that. As a medical oncologist, I'm not so
much involved with that, but I was delighted to see
because I certainly see patients who've, you know, suffered a
long time with symptoms of endometriosis and maybe also not
been diagnosed for many years.

S1 (01:21:48):
Here at the Peter MacCallum center. That's where you work.
It's got a wonderful reputation. I know, for example, some
of the football rounds, for example, uh, dedicate a lot
of time and money and awareness of, uh, an organization
like that. I guess things like that kind of help
in terms of awareness. And it kind of doesn't matter
what kind of cancer you're fighting, but just to have
the name out there Arthur is good for the general

(01:22:09):
public to make them aware.

S11 (01:22:10):
Yes, absolutely. We're very lucky in in Melbourne to have
this wonderful, dedicated, comprehensive cancer center. You know, in Parkville,
right in the middle of a whole lot of academic
and research institutions, such as the University of Melbourne and,
you know, co-located with other hospitals like the Royal Melbourne
Hospital and the Royal Women's Hospital. So, yeah, we're very

(01:22:33):
lucky to have the Peter Mac, and it gives us
a lot of opportunities to run world leading research and
clinical trials to try and improve the outcomes for all
sorts of different cancers.

S1 (01:22:45):
And getting back to the purpose of today's interview, if
people did want to find out more, uh, the name
of the the generic name is Gemperle. Is that right?

S11 (01:22:54):
Generic name is Gemperle j e m p e r
l I. And, um, you would be able to see
if you looked on the PBS website that it is
already approved for some women with endometrial cancer. And, uh, yeah,
we really hope to get approval for all women funded
by the PBS sometime later in the year.

S1 (01:23:13):
But it's been great. It's been most enlightening. Thank you
so much for sparing me the time for us.

S11 (01:23:17):
It's a pleasure. Thank you.

S1 (01:23:19):
It's wonderful, isn't it? That's Professor Linda Malyshkin from the
Peter MacCallum Institute. Talk about endometrial cancer and some good news.
Hopefully even more good news on the way. Some faint
notes to the show. You may have caught up with
the news very late last week that there might be
some changes to access taxis in South Australia. We'll get

(01:23:42):
some to talk about it next week. I think those
changes come in on Monday, so we'll give people a
chance to kind of digest and see how the land lies.
But all being well, talking more about that next week,
it's certainly been a problem. That's been an issue for many,
many people for many, many years here in South Australia,
probably Australia wide may have caught up with the news
during the week where a mother with a young child

(01:24:04):
with a disability couldn't get hospital on time because access
cabs didn't turn up. So there's been some reaction from
the government. We'll see what the reaction to the reaction
is on the program next week. Think about next week.
Of course, next week is National Volunteer Week. So to
all the volunteers, many of them involved with this program,
many on this program as guests, that all this program

(01:24:25):
has guests. No one's get paid a cent on this program.
So for all the volunteers, for all the wonderful work
you do throughout the year, it's great that this week
recognizes you. Thank you. May you long continue. Speak about
next week also. All being well will hopefully catch up
with Neville Horton, our finance guru. Couldn't synchronize our clocks
and watches with Neville this week. But all being well,

(01:24:46):
Neville back on the program next week. I know he's very,
very popular. So if you hang out for Neville, seven
more days and we'll get Neville on club call on
tomorrow at the govt. A regular occurrence the third Sunday
of each month at the Governor Hindmarsh Hotel. It gets
underway about 10:30 in the morning. Doors open through to
about 230. They've got three live bands tomorrow, so certainly

(01:25:10):
well worth getting along. So they've got live bands. So music,
great food, wonderful entertainment. You can dance, you can sing along,
even get on stage. Some people do. So it should
be a great day tomorrow at the guv if you
want more details. Speaking of volunteers, that organization Club Cool
very much run on the basis of volunteers. Give Andrew

(01:25:31):
Kyprianou a call 04088486490408848649 to contact Andrew Kyprianou if you
want to get involved with the club, cool. But if
you want to just rock up tomorrow for about 10:30
till about 2:30, you are very, very cordially invited. A

(01:25:51):
couple of quotes before we go. Rebecca said the quote
you may hear Rebecca on focal point on a regular basis.
Rebecca has said to quite through. Rebecca says you can't
use up creativity because the more you use, the more
you have. So Rebecca, thank you very much for that.
And on the back of the appointment of Mark Butler

(01:26:12):
to all those ministries chatting to gender, the greatest taxi
driver in the world during the week, he made an
interesting point. He said over the next 30 years or so,
the percentage of people in Australia over 65 will double.
The percentage of people over 85 will treble. So gender
was making the point. That looks like young people like

(01:26:33):
him are going to have to work a little bit
longer to make sure that people like us maybe do
have the services. We require a lot more emphasis on
the younger taxpayers. I'm sure that'll be the case. So
if you want to send a quote through 8234 1197
during business hours, and I often say we'll put information

(01:26:54):
up on our show notes regarding interviews that we do.
If you don't have access or don't choose to have
access to the show notes, Please always feel free to
give us a call here at the radio station. 8234
1197 during business hours in Adelaide. Or you can always
call Vision Australia. They'll get back to you if you
leave a message. 1300 847 461 3084746. Some birthdays before we go

(01:27:21):
a couple of fine basketballers or one current one past.
We say a very happy birthday to Georgia munro cook,
member of the gliders. So George having a birthday. So
past glider and also past Paralympic sailing gold medallist Liesl
Tesch having a birthday. Speaking of politicians, Lisa, the member
for Gosford in New South Wales. So happy birthday to

(01:27:42):
you Lisa. Scott Crowley, wonderful basketballer himself having a birthday
and now doing some tremendous amount of work in the
area of advocacy. A big happy birthday to you too, Scott.
And we also say happy birthday to Riley, back and
wheelchair rugby champion, largely regarded as the best wheelchair player
of rugby in the world. So a happy birthday to you.

(01:28:02):
And also happy birthday to Evie Wilson, one of the
fine orientation and mobility people around Australia. Happy birthday to you, Evie.
Speak about mobility. A bit of a glimpse into the
future on Focal Point this Wednesday night with an interview
regarding mobility. I think I've had enough. I've said enough.
You've had enough. We've got to go. Vicki Cousins is
standing by with Australian Geographic. Don't touch that dial because

(01:28:25):
Vicki is worth listening to. Sam Rickard, thanks so much
for your help. Pam Green, thanks so much for yours.
Reminding you that Leslie is available on that favorite podcast
platform of yours. Please tell your friends about the show.
Be kind to yourselves, be thoughtful, and look out for others.
All being well. Leslie. Back at the same time next
week on Vision Australia Radio and the Reading Radio Network.

(01:28:49):
This is leisure link.

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