Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In my community of Dunkley we have a fantastic support group called Hear Together Australia, led by Sandi Grace and many other awesome volunteers and disability advocates. Hear Together Australia welcomes families with children who are deaf or who have hearing loss. In Australia, three to six children in every thousand have some degree of hearing loss. For a variety of reasons, children who are deaf or hard of hearing often feel disconnected and suffer from anxiety and depression in greater numbers than the hearing community. Hear Together Australia in my community is tackling these issues by creating avenues of re-connection and understanding, as well as providing education centred on inclusion and acceptance.

So I was very pleased that the group received support through the Dunkley Stronger Communities Program to purchase a sound-field system that is being used by children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Members can link to the sound field via their own personal hearing aids. It has done wonders to enhance the inclusivity of their regular meet-ups, events and camps, and I thank them for sending me some photos recently to show me what they're doing. I know that the group is about to head off on their first camp for 2023, and members are looking forward to spending time with their beautiful community of young people and using the assistance of technology. I hope they all have a really great time.