ABC Heywire Gala Speech

Hello Heywire and Trailblazer Winners and esteemed guests!

Before I begin, I want to acknowledge the Ngunnawal and Nambri peoples, who are the Traditional Owners of the land on which we are gathered tonight.  I pay my respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people here tonight event.

In the spirit of ABC Heywire, I acknowledge the long history of storytelling by First Nations peoples across this land and celebrate that we all are enriched by that tradition tonight.

I’d also like to quickly acknowledge a few other VIPs who are here with us tonight, including Chair of the ABC Kim Williams, and Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal’s Head of Partnerships Deb Samuels.

I’m really pleased to see so many of my parliamentary colleagues joining us tonight.

Young people aren’t our just future – they’re our right now, and we need to take every opportunity we can to celebrate them.

Thank you for making the time to be here.

And most importantly – congratulations to the incredible winners here tonight, as well as everyone who entered the Heywire and Trailblazer competitions.

I had the privilege to attend ABC Takeover in Burnie in Tasmania in September last year.

It was a wonderful experience that I was lucky to share with my Parliamentary colleague Anne Urquart who I am pleased to see here tonight.

To tell you the truth, I’m a bit starstruck to be sharing a stage with you all.

Because you’ve all worked so hard to get here.

You’ve noticed things that others haven’t, you’ve taken on challenges that others thought were too hard.

And you’re not afraid to speak up when it matters.

Those are all admirable qualities.

And they’re qualities we want to foster among young people across the country.

While I was watching your videos, I was reflecting on the power of sharing our stories to change hearts and minds.

When I was younger, I became friends with the cleaner at my university.

He shared his story with me.

He was dedicated to his job. And his job was essential to the university.

But the wages and conditions he worked under were simply not enough to provide for his family.

It’s fair to say that the cleaner sharing his story with me changed my life.

Supporting him – and many other cleaners – to rally together for justice set me on the path that has led me here today.

And just like I was inspired by those cleaners working together for a better future, there will be plenty of people out there who are inspired by the stories shared by our Heywire and Trailblazer winners.

Stories like that of Jeremy from Katherine in the Northern Territory, who channelled the grief of losing his father into leading youth health initiatives for young First Nations people in the NT.

Or like Visha from Renmark in South Australia, who used her experience of river clean ups in India to find a community as part of Landcare in her new home in SA.

Or Erika, who started an anti-racism club at her school to ensure that no other young people had to carry the burden of racism in silence and isolation.

If I can be so bold as to make a request of you all before you leave here tonight, and indeed, before you wrap up your time at the ABC Heywire Summit, it’s this –

Keep raising your voices.

Keep sharing your stories.

And keep in touch with as many people you’ve met here as you can – MPs included.

I want to reiterate what I said earlier.

You’re not only our future. You’re our right now.

And through programs like ABC Heywire, Trailblazer, and Takeover, and through the Office for Youth, the Youth Steering Committee, Youth Advisory Groups, and countless other opportunities – we want to keep hearing from you.

Because every single one of you has something important to say.

And on that note – it’s time for me to introduce Georgie, a 2026 Heywire winner from Baddaginnie in Victoria, on Yorta Yorta country.

Georgie comes from a long line of farmers, but fashion runs in her family too. She’s finding bold and creative ways to bring those two worlds together.

I’m thrilled to share the world-premiere of her story with you all tonight.

Please enjoy.