Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to talk today about a fantastic organisation in my electorate. 'Babana' means 'brother' in the Dharuk language, and it's a unique brotherhood that embraces Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal men. It's powered by the simple but very powerful idea that self-determination begins with small practical steps. By providing a safe and supportive place for First Nations men, the Babana Aboriginal Men's Group are helping their families and communities. Over 20 years, this small organisation, founded by Mark Spinks and Jeremy Heathcote, has demonstrated its outsized power to transform lives.

Babana initially grew from Mark Spinks's determination to help the Indigenous men who walked through the door of Centrelink in Redfern, where he worked. What started as a small, informal group of local men in 2006—

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

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What started as a small, informal group of local men in 2006 quickly grew to a much larger number with a much larger impact, and, some 20 years later, Babana's impact now resonates well beyond our local community in Redfern.

At Babana, they understand that complex problems are addressed through practical solutions. There is an understanding that poor mental health, for example, is often the consequence, and not the cause, of economic exclusion, and that finding a pathway to financial independence first requires dealing with the basics. That might mean helping someone make better financial decisions, helping them get their ID sorted or helping them pay a fine so they can reclaim their licence so they can get a job.

At Babana, solutions and pathways to financial independence grow out of the monthly men's group. It's a safe place to yarn, to admit personal challenges and to identify realistic opportunities for work. Men in this group identified traffic controlling as a job they could do and wanted to do. A conversation with local businessman and member of the Redfern Aboriginal community Shane Phillips led to contact with a traffic management business and the subsequent creation of Babana Traffic Control. Babana Traffic Control now employs people across Sydney—many of them not just the Indigenous men who came up with the idea but Indigenous women too.

Today, as Babana brings businesses together with its members, I have no doubt that more practical steps will be taken and more lives will be transformed. Solutions that grow out of local communities are the solutions that endure. I want to congratulate Babana for the wonderful work they do to employ people to make sure that they've got all of the basics of life sorted.