Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This Friday coming up, 22 March, a very special walk will be taking place in Darwin, kicking off at about 5.30 am. I'll fly in from Canberra at about midnight, have a couple of hours kip and then be out doing the walk, which is 14.5 kilometres, from RAAF Base Darwin out to Robertson Barracks, the home of the 1st Brigade. This walk was started by Dan Hilliard from Mix 104.9 FM, for the March On Challenge, which is the Soldier On fundraiser and contributes to their awesome work of providing mental health services and connections for those transitioning from the ADF into civilian life and for anyone in the veterans and families communities. Soldier On is one of the service providers at the Mates4Mates Veteran and Family Wellbeing Centre that opened in Stuart Park in Darwin last May. I've had the pleasure of spending a bit of time there at Mates4Mates with the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Matt Keogh, and the Assistant Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Matt Thistlethwaite, and seeing firsthand the tremendous work being done by Soldier On, Mates4Mates and the other service providers. As a fourth-generation veteran, I know how important this work is.