Transcript: Doorstop, Adelaide - 12 October 2024

TRANSCRIPT
Doorstop, Adelaide

12 October 2024

Topics: Kicking off Dan Tehan MP’s 900km run to raise awareness and research funds for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, one year since the Prime Minister’s failed Voice referendum

E&OE…………………………………

Anne Ruston: Well, it is absolutely fantastic to be here at the beautiful Adelaide Oval this morning to join Dan Tehan, the Member for Wannon, who is doing a charity run with a group of his running mates from Victoria to raise awareness for a disease that claimed the life of his mother. So, it is absolutely amazing so many people are out today, because raising awareness of diseases is the first step in making sure that we can get Australians early access to the kinds of treatments that they need, because we know that early access will often save someone's life. So, it's fantastic Dan that you're here today. Welcome to Adelaide, and maybe tell us a bit about the disease that you're running for here today.

Dan Tehan: Thanks Anne, and it's wonderful to be here with you. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is a brain wasting disease. It impacts about one in a million people, so it's a rare disease, but it is a death sentence. It's brain wasting and it can kill you within the space of about three months. There is no known cure. So, we are raising awareness and funds for research. There's the first research trial taking place at the moment. It's over five years, and we've already raised enough funds for the first two years of that research and we're hoping to raise around $100,000 again from this run, from Adelaide, to Mildura, to Terang in Western Victoria, so we can do the third stage of this trial. Thanks for your wonderful support, Anne. It's great that you're here to see us off. We've got 12 runners. It's over 900km. We're going to do it in seven days. It's for a great cause and it's to raise very, very important awareness and research money for this disease, CJD.

Journalist: Thanks guys, and can you just tell us how long you are both running each today.

Anne Ruston: Well, I definitely will not be running as far as Dan. Dan's been in training for months and months. In fact, last year he ran from Canberra to his hometown of Hamilton. So he's the distance runner. I like to think of myself a bit more of a sprinter. But Dan, how far are you running today?

Dan Tehan: I'm going to run 15km today. We're going to head up the wonderful River Torrens to start with, and then head towards Mildura. So it'll be 15km today and I'm hoping to run 15km each day for the next seven days to make sure that we've got those kilometres that will get us through the Terang.

Journalist: Just on the news of the day. This time last year, Australians were voting at a referendum - [Inaudible]

Anne Ruston: Well, it's a year on and we still see a government and a Prime Minister who are just missing the priorities of what matters to Australians at the moment. And 12 months ago, the Prime Minister was focussed on a Voice, a Voice that was going to be extraordinarily divisive for Australia. Australians said no in a resounding way. I think today, we're 12 months on and the Prime Minister still seems to be missing the point. He's not doing anything to address the cost of living or respond to the challenges that everyday Australians are facing at the moment. They can't pay for their power bills, they can't pay for their mortgages, they're worried about whether their children will ever be able to afford to build or buy a house. And so, I think it's a timely reminder to the Prime Minister - Australians need your help and it's about time you started giving it to them.

Journalist: And in terms of Indigenous affairs, do you think there's been any progression since that referendum failed?

Anne Ruston: Well, I mean, if you actually are out on the ground - and I spend a lot of time in rural, regional and remote Australia - the lives of Indigenous Australians, I think, over the last 12 months certainly have gotten no better and in some instances have got worse. You've only got to go to places like Alice Springs to see the tragedy and the suffering of Indigenous Australians there. So, I don't think that Mr. Albanese ever imagined that his Voice was going to improve the lot of Australians. But the reality is that unless we actually do something at the grassroots level and we actually get out into communities and provide them with the support, so that they can provide their own solutions, you know, we are just paying lip service to the inner city elites and we're really not doing anything at all to help Australians who need our help, and they're mostly in community.

Journalist: [Inaudible].

Anne Ruston: Well, I mean, Mr. Albanese never said a word about the Voice until he decided that the Voice was going to be some great idea that was going to gain him great popularity. And the Voice failed. Australians said no 12 months ago, and Mr. Albanese hasn't mentioned the word 'voice' since. In fact, I don't think Mr. Albanese has really made much comment about Indigenous Australians since his Voice failed, and I think that shows very, very clearly what the Voice was all about to this Government and to Mr. Albanese. It was nothing more than a popularity stunt. He never really had the interest of Indigenous Australians and their life at the heart of what he was doing. He had his own personal self-interest at the heart of what he was proposing.

ENDS