1
00:00:00,800 --> 00:00:04,280
Speaker 1: Five Double A Nights with Matthew Pantalas. We spent a

2
00:00:04,320 --> 00:00:06,480
Speaker 1: bit of time last night with Tracy Yean who was

3
00:00:06,559 --> 00:00:10,959
Speaker 1: then talking about men's health for International Men's Day. At

4
00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:13,119
Speaker 1: the same time, twenty four hours ago there was a

5
00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:18,280
Speaker 1: dinner at the Hilton raising awareness and money for men's issues.

6
00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:21,840
Speaker 1: But a charity called Mates in Construction has benefited to

7
00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:24,880
Speaker 1: the tune of almost one hundred and fifty thousand as

8
00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:28,840
Speaker 1: a result of fundraising efforts last night at the dinner

9
00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:33,839
Speaker 1: for International Men's Day and putting this on and championing

10
00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:36,239
Speaker 1: the rights of men as she has since she was

11
00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:39,440
Speaker 1: elected almost four years ago to State Parliament. Is Sarah

12
00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:43,920
Speaker 1: game now with the party that she has founded. Formerly

13
00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:48,040
Speaker 1: was with One Nation but now Australian's or Fair Go

14
00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:50,839
Speaker 1: for Australia Party. Sarah, good evening to you.

15
00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:53,320
Speaker 2: Good evening Matthew, thanks so much.

16
00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:56,120
Speaker 1: Congratulations on raising that much. That's well done.

17
00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:00,560
Speaker 2: Well, thank you Matthew, because right you've been with this journey,

18
00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:03,160
Speaker 2: actually right back from the beginning. I know that when

19
00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:06,440
Speaker 2: I entered Parliament and I started advocating for men and

20
00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:09,319
Speaker 2: men's mental health, and some of those early dinners that

21
00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:12,240
Speaker 2: I put on, you were there, and you've always made

22
00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:14,560
Speaker 2: the time to have me on, So I really appreciate that.

23
00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:18,280
Speaker 1: I think it's such a good thing. And I know,

24
00:01:18,520 --> 00:01:20,959
Speaker 1: you know from being at those and talking with the

25
00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:25,040
Speaker 1: people there, it's very much appreciated. And even with listeners

26
00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:27,119
Speaker 1: in the past, when you've been on, people have taken

27
00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:29,880
Speaker 1: the time to text or call in to appreciate what

28
00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:33,280
Speaker 1: you've done. Mates and Construction tell us about them because

29
00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:35,639
Speaker 1: obviously they must do a lot of work in the space.

30
00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:39,360
Speaker 2: Well, what I liked about Mates and Construction was just

31
00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:41,040
Speaker 2: that there's a lot of evidence to say that it

32
00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:45,800
Speaker 2: actually works. You know, it's a peer peered system, so

33
00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:48,760
Speaker 2: at different levels. You know, certain workers are trained to

34
00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:52,280
Speaker 2: different levels of skill, but it's evidence based and it's

35
00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:55,320
Speaker 2: something actually, I mean, I've been doing an inquiry into

36
00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:57,480
Speaker 2: veterinary mental health as well, and it's something that we're

37
00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:00,760
Speaker 2: actually looking to roll out a similar system in the

38
00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:04,000
Speaker 2: veterinary profession because it's just it's just so effective. So

39
00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:07,320
Speaker 2: Mates in Construction was an obvious choice, but we actually

40
00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:10,960
Speaker 2: had two other minor charity partners, So we had mentally

41
00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:14,280
Speaker 2: Fit Air Peninsula, who do work in rural communities, and

42
00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:18,600
Speaker 2: we also had a group called Teen Challenge who the

43
00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:21,560
Speaker 2: name isn't very clear, but they actually do sort of

44
00:02:21,639 --> 00:02:25,520
Speaker 2: dragging alcohol rehabilitation for men and boys in the Adelaide

45
00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:27,360
Speaker 2: Hills and they're really effective as well. So we had

46
00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:30,080
Speaker 2: the three partners, so we raised almoste hundred and fifty

47
00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:33,040
Speaker 2: thousand for Mates in Construction, but we raised thousands and

48
00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:35,840
Speaker 2: thousands more for the other two minor charities. We're still

49
00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:36,600
Speaker 2: telling that up.

50
00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:42,280
Speaker 1: Well, okay, that's excellent. Why did you start doing this originally?

51
00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:47,720
Speaker 2: Look, it's probably multifaceted. I mean, you know, some people

52
00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:50,160
Speaker 2: will know that I unfortunately lost my dad, you know,

53
00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:54,400
Speaker 2: back in twenty twenty two, you know, to mental health struggles.

54
00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:56,960
Speaker 2: But I think also, you know, I'm a mum of

55
00:02:57,240 --> 00:02:59,480
Speaker 2: a young boy. He actually provided a lot of the

56
00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:02,840
Speaker 2: content for my speech the other night, you know, and

57
00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:04,840
Speaker 2: talking to him and how he finds being a young

58
00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:08,320
Speaker 2: male growing up. But really what led me there was

59
00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:11,080
Speaker 2: entering Parliament and touching on a number of different issues

60
00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:14,240
Speaker 2: and just realizing that when I spoke about men's mental

61
00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:17,680
Speaker 2: health there was a massive level of engagement. You know,

62
00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:21,480
Speaker 2: it's hard actually as a politician to resonate with the

63
00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:23,880
Speaker 2: people that elected you. A lot of the time you're talking,

64
00:03:23,919 --> 00:03:26,680
Speaker 2: no one's really listening, they're not really engaged with what

65
00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:29,960
Speaker 2: you're doing, and you're feeling pretty ineffective. But when I

66
00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:33,720
Speaker 2: talked about men's mental health and that type of issue,

67
00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:37,160
Speaker 2: not only from men but women, it was just a

68
00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:39,119
Speaker 2: massive topic where people would write to me and say

69
00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:41,320
Speaker 2: thank you so much. And so that's why Matthew I

70
00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:43,360
Speaker 2: decided a few years ago, I'm going to start these

71
00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:47,080
Speaker 2: International Men's Say events. They've been the largest celebratory events

72
00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:51,120
Speaker 2: in the state since they started, but we've now I

73
00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:53,440
Speaker 2: think we had about three hundred and sixty people there

74
00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:56,000
Speaker 2: the other night, so you'll know from the previous ones

75
00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:57,760
Speaker 2: you've attended about our biggest yet.

76
00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:01,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, I think the ones deal's one hundred odd,

77
00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:04,720
Speaker 1: you know, one hundred and twenty or whatever, but tremendous.

78
00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:07,640
Speaker 1: That's such a good thing. And obviously, and I know

79
00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:10,680
Speaker 1: you had flippers the mc wayne Phillips, who is just

80
00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:13,240
Speaker 1: a master at being mc and I can only imagine

81
00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:13,920
Speaker 1: how the night went.

82
00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:17,960
Speaker 2: Well, it's always the vibe. The vibe is really good.

83
00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:21,120
Speaker 2: I mean, obviously, you know you're raising awareness and talking

84
00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:24,960
Speaker 2: about difficult topics, but it isn't just that what I

85
00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:27,600
Speaker 2: really want to do with International Men's Day is not

86
00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:31,200
Speaker 2: just raise awareness and talk about the challenges that men face,

87
00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:34,520
Speaker 2: but I'm really trying to steer it into a direction

88
00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:37,799
Speaker 2: where it's actually quite celebratory in nature as well, because

89
00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:39,920
Speaker 2: I think that's the flip side of men's mental health,

90
00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:43,760
Speaker 2: is to be able to feel valued, in celebrated in

91
00:04:43,839 --> 00:04:46,840
Speaker 2: the narrative and in their real lives. And so that's

92
00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:48,320
Speaker 2: really what I want to do as well. So I

93
00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:49,960
Speaker 2: also had a lot of the night was upbeat and

94
00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:51,240
Speaker 2: it wasn't all sober.

95
00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:55,440
Speaker 1: That's good. Why do you reckon it? Is that we

96
00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:58,120
Speaker 1: fell as fall through the cracks like that? Is it

97
00:04:58,279 --> 00:05:02,080
Speaker 1: just not wanting to talk thinking, I don't know we come.

98
00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:04,880
Speaker 1: I suppose a lot of us from the era of

99
00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:08,239
Speaker 1: real men don't cry and you know, don't eat cash

100
00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:10,440
Speaker 1: and all that sort of thing. Is that part of

101
00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:12,599
Speaker 1: the problem the match? I you know, I'm strong enough

102
00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:15,560
Speaker 1: to withstand this, but not really well, well.

103
00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:17,800
Speaker 2: Look, I spoke to my son, so he's ten. I've

104
00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:20,119
Speaker 2: got three kids, ten, nine, and seven, and my son,

105
00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:23,200
Speaker 2: he is the oldest, was the oldest of three kids

106
00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:24,600
Speaker 2: at the age of three. So he said this sort

107
00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:26,600
Speaker 2: of unique experience of being the oldest from a really

108
00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:28,760
Speaker 2: young age. And I said to him, you know, help

109
00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:31,360
Speaker 2: me with the content of this speech. You know'm talking

110
00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:33,800
Speaker 2: about International Men's Day or the only mail in the house.

111
00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:35,839
Speaker 2: You know, I need your thoughts on this. And I

112
00:05:35,839 --> 00:05:38,240
Speaker 2: asked him a number of questions which I use on

113
00:05:38,279 --> 00:05:40,280
Speaker 2: the night, but when I came to the one about

114
00:05:40,839 --> 00:05:43,160
Speaker 2: you know what's harder about being a boy? It was

115
00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:45,000
Speaker 2: actually really hard to get it out of him. And

116
00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:47,760
Speaker 2: when I first asked him, he said, oh, nothing, I

117
00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:50,440
Speaker 2: can't think of anything. And it wasn't until I came

118
00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:53,600
Speaker 2: back and I asked him again and he said, and

119
00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:57,400
Speaker 2: he gave me permission to requote this. He said, oh, mum,

120
00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:00,000
Speaker 2: you know, I think I've thought of something. I said, oh, okay, done.

121
00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:02,600
Speaker 2: And you know, tell me, he said, as a boy,

122
00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:05,360
Speaker 2: I think it's harder to get looked after by someone.

123
00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:07,560
Speaker 2: And I said, du you know, goodness, you know obviously

124
00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:08,880
Speaker 2: as his parents, I said, well, what do you What

125
00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:12,279
Speaker 2: do you mean, darling? He said, well, everyone thinks girls

126
00:06:12,279 --> 00:06:15,200
Speaker 2: are so delicate, but boys they can just look after themselves.

127
00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:17,240
Speaker 2: And I thought that was a really good insight into

128
00:06:17,279 --> 00:06:20,280
Speaker 2: the way boys are still feeling now. You know, he's

129
00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:23,280
Speaker 2: just a young boy growing up and he's already sensing

130
00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:25,640
Speaker 2: that expectation that as a boy, really he should just

131
00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:28,080
Speaker 2: look after himself. And that was really good feedback for me.

132
00:06:28,480 --> 00:06:31,800
Speaker 1: That's interesting, isn't it. So I mean that stereotyping sets

133
00:06:31,839 --> 00:06:35,040
Speaker 1: in really early. I guess inadvertently, I'm sure, but there

134
00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:35,400
Speaker 1: it is.

135
00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:37,920
Speaker 2: There it is. And initially, you know, he was a

136
00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:39,720
Speaker 2: bit He's like, Mummy, you know, you can't say that,

137
00:06:39,760 --> 00:06:41,280
Speaker 2: you know, because I think he's thought it sounded a bit,

138
00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:44,160
Speaker 2: you know, silly or something. But I said, you know, Thomas,

139
00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:46,200
Speaker 2: you know that a lot of people are going to

140
00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:49,160
Speaker 2: resonate with that. And they really did on the night,

141
00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:51,240
Speaker 2: you know, that was the part of the speech I

142
00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:53,440
Speaker 2: think that people really resonated with. So I think, yeah,

143
00:06:53,480 --> 00:06:55,360
Speaker 2: that's ingrained early. But I also think there's a lot

144
00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:57,600
Speaker 2: of other systemic issues. You know, the way the education

145
00:06:57,720 --> 00:07:01,680
Speaker 2: system is very feminized, you know, values that sedentary learning,

146
00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:05,040
Speaker 2: the early verbal skills, things that boys, you know, lap

147
00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:07,559
Speaker 2: from the beginning, and boys are now underperforming at school.

148
00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:09,600
Speaker 2: I mean, I think I read something like forty three

149
00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:12,080
Speaker 2: percent less boys finish year twelve and girls, and by

150
00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:14,720
Speaker 2: year nine, the average boy is a year and a

151
00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:17,160
Speaker 2: half behind in literacy than the average girl. I mean

152
00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:19,000
Speaker 2: that's going to flow on to all the things later

153
00:07:19,080 --> 00:07:19,680
Speaker 2: in life.

154
00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:23,400
Speaker 1: Absolutely, yeah, that's right. So how do we fix that though?

155
00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:27,160
Speaker 2: I think, look, there's so many things we need to

156
00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:28,600
Speaker 2: do to fix that. I think, you know, there does

157
00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:30,480
Speaker 2: need to be a look at the education system. I

158
00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:33,840
Speaker 2: do personally think we need more men in teaching and

159
00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:36,120
Speaker 2: that that should be promoted. I know my own son

160
00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:39,400
Speaker 2: responds really well when he's got a male teacher around.

161
00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:42,680
Speaker 2: I think that small things that we're doing now with

162
00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:45,720
Speaker 2: international men's saying just making a bit of a feel

163
00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:48,120
Speaker 2: good aspect to being male. I think things have gone

164
00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:50,120
Speaker 2: way too far in the other direction. A lot of

165
00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:53,960
Speaker 2: men aren't feeling that they can actually celebrate their successes

166
00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:56,240
Speaker 2: and their contributions, and that is the flip side to

167
00:07:56,360 --> 00:07:58,760
Speaker 2: keeping people out of a dark place is actually letting

168
00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:02,080
Speaker 2: them feel good. And we've got to do that as

169
00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:03,040
Speaker 2: a society as well.

170
00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:05,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, totally. So obviously you're going to keep this

171
00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:08,080
Speaker 1: up and it'll be an annual event for you know,

172
00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:09,960
Speaker 1: as long as you're there, I'm sure, and even maybe

173
00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:11,120
Speaker 1: one day out of politics.

174
00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:14,200
Speaker 2: Well, I think the fact Matthew, you know, you know,

175
00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:16,120
Speaker 2: I really struggled to get my colleagues along in the

176
00:08:16,160 --> 00:08:19,040
Speaker 2: early days. The room was full of politicians last night,

177
00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:22,560
Speaker 2: including the Premier himself, and in fact even Don Farrell

178
00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:26,320
Speaker 2: he auctioned. He wasn't there, but he actually auctioned off

179
00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:28,280
Speaker 2: I think a dinner or lunch with himself, you know,

180
00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:32,080
Speaker 2: to contribute to the cause. So it's really gained traction

181
00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:33,800
Speaker 2: and a lot more people are feeling that they can

182
00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:35,720
Speaker 2: jump on board and it's widely accepted.

183
00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:39,600
Speaker 1: Isn't that interesting that that change over three years, essentially

184
00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:40,720
Speaker 1: three and a half. It's amazing.

185
00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:44,160
Speaker 2: It was a bit of a I think people were

186
00:08:44,200 --> 00:08:47,160
Speaker 2: a bit scared to get on board earlier on, but

187
00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:50,480
Speaker 2: I think they've seen how well it's been received and

188
00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:52,880
Speaker 2: that it isn't political, you know, it really isn't and

189
00:08:52,960 --> 00:08:54,480
Speaker 2: up to do a politician, but I've wanted to do

190
00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:56,520
Speaker 2: this as an apolitical thing, you know, in addition to

191
00:08:56,520 --> 00:08:59,680
Speaker 2: my political role, really holding the events for men of

192
00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:04,520
Speaker 2: any political persuasion. And now we just had so many

193
00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:07,840
Speaker 2: wonderful representatives and people from all works of life, you know.

194
00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:10,880
Speaker 2: We had veteran groups and men's mental health groups, we

195
00:09:10,920 --> 00:09:13,719
Speaker 2: had women there. We had politicians from every side of politics.

196
00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:17,480
Speaker 2: Foster care is. It was just it was a brilliant

197
00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:19,280
Speaker 2: turnout in a brilliant evening.

198
00:09:19,559 --> 00:09:22,160
Speaker 1: Fantastic well Sarah, good luck to you and all strength

199
00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:26,920
Speaker 1: to you moving forward with this thing. It's a fantastic thing.

200
00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:30,360
Speaker 1: You're doing so well done, and good luck in the future.

201
00:09:31,160 --> 00:09:33,319
Speaker 2: And thanks for your support from the beginning. Matthew, thanks

202
00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:33,600
Speaker 2: so much.

203
00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:36,280
Speaker 1: It's my pleasure. Good on your Sarah. Sarah game fair,

204
00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:39,560
Speaker 1: go for Australia Party Upper House MP in state parliament

205
00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:40,800
Speaker 1: and a voice for men