Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As a servant to the people of Queensland and Australia, I want to celebrate the effort of an energetic and passionate young man, Chris Paterson, his wife, Kristy, and their family. The family recently embarked on its latest venture, as Chris runs, cycles and paddles 50 kilometres a day around Australia to raise funds for their charity and voluntary work. The family works voluntarily to support those in need, including the physically handicapped, the impaired and people suffering from mental health conditions.

Chris Paterson and his wife, Kristy, started and now run Australia's first boat giving the handicapped access to water for therapeutic purposes. They first raised funds to buy the boat at a price of $60,000 and heavily modified it to make it accessible to wheelchairs—our country's first such boat offering a free service catering to mental health support. Chris and Kristy have since invested five years working voluntarily to bring the benefits to people less fortunate. Their two boys—Jack, aged 12, and Cooper, aged 10—have worked alongside them because Chris and his wife Kristy, who is an environmental scientist, believe it is the most productive way of educating their children and the most productive way of caring for our planet.

Here are some of this remarkable and generous family's milestones, achievements and future plans: Bamboo Projects, a mental health and disability support charity founded by people who have overcome their own mental health battles, established in 2014; registered charities since 2017; NDIS provider since 2018; raised funds and received a $10,000 council grant towards the therapeutic boat. They support 60 to 70 people per week by providing access and inclusion to outdoor activities on the wheelchair boat. Some participants have travelled 2½ hours just to use these services. Other organisations, such as Sailability Sunshine Coast and scar tree Indigenous youth mentoring, use the wheelchair boat for their participants.

They hold monthly community events that include mental health chats with families while the children enjoy kids arts and crafts and jumping castles. Amazingly, up to 400 people attend these events. They facilitate back-to-work programs through cleaning up the waterways and that allow for a comfortable and supportive environment for people to gain skills to transition back into the mainstream workforce. They hold regular events cleaning up the waterways to clean up the beaches and waterfronts. They teach children sustainable ways to care for and protect the environment.

The family's latest project is Keep Moving Forward, and that involves holding 60 pop-up mental health events all over Australia in remote, Indigenous and farming communities. Why? Because that is where the suicide rates are highest. Their discussions with residents in these regions conclude that they would like a more holistic approach, such as the service that Chris and Kristy offer, and that regional communities would benefit from outdoor therapies that the couple provide on the Sunshine Coast.

Chris and Kristy say that every week they field several calls from people who are being let down by headspace and Beyond Blue, as both these agencies have waiting lists of over six weeks. This is hard for me to understand since these established charities receive significant funding, yet our couple are denied government funding because they provide a non-clinical service. The response given is: enough money is already put towards mental health and disability support services, yet the rate of suicide is continually increasing. Another approach is needed. Frustrations abound.

For example, through meetings with the Queensland Labor council the couple requested funding for the wheelchair access boat in 2017. They were told to get a parliamentary petition to see if the community would be happy for their tax dollars to go towards it. In just two months they received 8,200 signatures, over 7,000 of those were handwritten signatures gained from face-to-face conversations about Bamboo Projects, their charity. The petition was tabled through parliament in Queensland, yet the Labor government denied support and denied the request of over 8,000 taxpayers. The couple's future plans include building an education hub, which during its construction would involve youth at risk, the homeless and those participating in back-to-work programs to assist with building the hub.

Please research Bamboo Projects, attend an event, donate funds or give encouragement to support Chris and Kristy as Chris cycles, runs and paddles around our nation raising money for fighting mental health challenges across our families, communities and nation.