Legislative Council Tuesday 19 November, 2019

Ms FORREST (Murchison) Mr President, Live Well Tasmania is a not-for-profit community organisation based in Wynyard.  Its mission is to improve the health and wellbeing of our community with a focus on disadvantaged youth.  It uses a whole-of-community wellbeing approach.

It provides programs, projects, workshops and events in the community hub located in central Wynyard, just around the corner from my office.  As noted on its website, Live Well Tasmania's vision statement is contributing to a world where everyone can achieve wellbeing.  Its mission is helping youth in poverty achieve wellbeing.  Its strategy is 'using research, evidence-based activities, collective impact (using partnerships to achieve joint goals) and the power of community'.

Integral to their mission is building formal and informal partnerships with other non‑government groups, government organisations and businesses for the most effective use of resources to address youth wellbeing.

Live Well Tasmania has had multiple Work for the Dole projects, which commenced in 2013, that have constructed two community market gardens and are helping to develop a community centre.

Live Well Tasmania has partnered with the Wynyard High School community to work with disadvantaged students who struggle in the classroom, often due to learning difficulties, in developing a market garden.  These students have found being in the garden particularly helps them with their socio-emotional difficulties and are now broadening their projects to engage the community more widely, focusing particularly on community resilience.

Live Well Tasmania is governed by a board, with board members having a range of skills including representatives from other community groups.  Live Well Tasmania is currently developing multi‑sectorial partnerships with groups such as Rural Health Tasmania, Big hART, the Smith Family, and Youth, Family & Community Connections, as well as local councils and state government departments.

Live Well Tasmania has developed good partnerships with the Waratah-Wynyard Council and the local high school.  The principal of the high school and the Community Development Officer of the council are both part of the steering committee supporting this strong partnership model.

This organisation has run a number of Healthy Tasmania-funded projects that have been successful in engaging the community and that have built their capacity to expand their reach.  They have successfully managed projects funded by organisations such as the federal Department of Agriculture, the Victorian Department of Primary Industries, the Tasmanian Department of Premier and Cabinet, the Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal, the Calvary Hospital and Skills Tasmania.

Live Well Tasmania has a statewide project called Community Exchange Network Tasmania - or CENTs - with currently over 600 members who trade goods and services without the use of money.  They have also recently been awarded another project as part of the Regional Jobs and Investment Packages which will establish a third market garden.

These three gardens, plus the growing space of their community centre, will provide substantial quantities of produce for an agri-food social enterprise that is also in the pipeline.

Live Well Tasmania puts out an informative monthly newsletter that promotes not only what they are doing in the community but also other community activities.  It is pages long and very informative.

It was pleasing to read in the November newsletter that they, in partnership with Warawyn Early Learning Centre, the childcare centre that Waratah-Wynyard Council runs, have received a small grant titled Bee Literate, which aims to raise awareness of the vital work bees do for us.  This will involve establishing small bee-attracting gardens at the Warawyn Early Learning Centre, as well as Live Well Tasmania working with the Wynyard community garden to build recycled bee hotels for children to take home.

We have many isolated people in our community who often suffer from poor health as a result of this isolation.  The north-west also has a range of other adverse outcome statistics that are particularly problematic for our youth.  These include lower education rates, higher smoking rates, higher teenage pregnancy rates and higher alcohol and drug use.

Live Well Tasmania believes addressing these problems requires a whole-of-community response and is working hard to build the capacity of our community to respond.  We first need to build community capacity, primarily in terms of willingness of people to work together.

I commend the Live Well Tasmania coordinator, Ms Robin Krabbe, and all of the team who work so hard for the betterment of our community in and around Wynyard in such important work that deserves to be recognised.