In Term 1, 35 ABC HEYWIRE Winners, from all parts of rural, regional and remote Australia, travelled vast distances to Canberra to share their stories and work together to advocate for changes needed to support their communities.
The SIDE community is very proud that 3 of these 35 winners were our students! Lexie from Laverton in Wongi Country, Kenneth from Burringurrah in Wajarri Country, and Kimberly from Fitzroy Crossing in Bunuba Country proudly represented SIDE, the state of Western Australia and their communities at the HEYWIRE Summit.
When the devastating floods impacted the Fitzroy Valley community in February 2023, the Prime Minister, the Hon Anthony Albanese MP, visited the area. A year later, in February 2024, when Kimberly approached ‘Albo’ at the Gala Dinner in Parliament House for a quick chat and a ‘selfie’, she mentioned that her HEYWIRE story was about the floods, and he remembered: “I read about that and the floods – I was there!”
Reflecting on her experience at HEYWIRE, Year 12 student Kimberly encourages all SIDE students in rural, regional and remote Western Australia to attend the HEYWIRE workshops in Term 3 to learn about telling their story and enter the HEYWIRE competition for 2025 by 1 September 2024.
Photo 1 | Kimberly took the fabulous ‘selfie’ with the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese
Photo 2 & 9 | ABC Heywire supplied, photographer Bradley Cummings.