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Speaker 1: Well, it is that time of the year. Primary students

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Speaker 1: across the top end are being encouraged to get walking

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Speaker 1: and get involved in Walk Safely to School Day, which

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Speaker 1: is happening tomorrow now. This month marks the twenty fourth

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Speaker 1: anniversary of the National Walk Safely to School Day. And

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Speaker 1: joining me on the line to tell us a little

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Speaker 1: bit more, it is the Pedestrian Council CEO Harold Scrubby.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Harold, Katie.

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Speaker 2: Harold Scruby, Oh.

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Speaker 1: I do apologize lovely to meet you on air and

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Speaker 1: chat to you. Harold tell me twenty four years of

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Speaker 1: Walking Safely to School. For those who don't know what

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Speaker 1: is Walk Safely to School Day all about, It's.

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Speaker 2: Simply an annual event which promotes two main points, health

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Speaker 2: and safety. And the reason it's been going for so

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Speaker 2: long and the reason it's important is that our children

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Speaker 2: are our greatest assets and they not only deserve every

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Speaker 2: protection we can give them, but they also need all

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Speaker 2: the education they can get about staying physically and mentally fit.

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Speaker 2: So walks say good a school, They ticks all those boxes.

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Speaker 1: Now, how can people get involved? There's probably people listening

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Speaker 1: this morning who are thinking, oh, we walk to school

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Speaker 1: most days, but how can they get involved tomorrow?

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Speaker 2: Well, all schools in Australia have been sent a kit

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Speaker 2: which includes tattoos, posters, information, et cetera, et cetera, and

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Speaker 2: we're hoping the kids will wear their tattoos to school

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Speaker 2: tomorrow and we hope that the school's given them out.

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Speaker 2: It's just a way once a year reinforcing this whole

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Speaker 2: idea that you know, walking is so important, Physical activity

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Speaker 2: is so important. Do you know, Cady that over twenty

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Speaker 2: five percent of our children now are overweight or obese.

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Speaker 2: And if you walk to any school and have a

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Speaker 2: look at the behavior in the mornings, you'll see so

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Speaker 2: many children being dropped off at the schoolgate with their

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Speaker 2: faces firmly transfixed on a screen or there are, and

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Speaker 2: they don't even know where they are. They've never even

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Speaker 2: seen the way they're being driven to school. They're constantly

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Speaker 2: looking at their screens. They're doing very little, if any exercise,

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Speaker 2: And we're saying to everyone in Australia you can't become

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Speaker 2: physically or even mentally fit unless you spend time doing

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Speaker 2: physical exercise and walking is by far the best exercise

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Speaker 2: we can all do, especially because you can build it

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Speaker 2: into your daily routine. Harold.

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Speaker 1: I've got two kids that are obviously school age, one

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Speaker 1: of them in primary school, and sometimes when we're on

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Speaker 1: the way to school, I can, like you actually see

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Speaker 1: kids walking to school but looking at their phones, and

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Speaker 1: I think, goodness, it's quite like. It's actually quite dangerous.

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Speaker 2: It's more than dangerous, Katie, it's lethal. And we've got

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Speaker 2: an add on our website that people should have a

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Speaker 2: look at. It actually looks at a girl who's walking

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Speaker 2: along the road and she doesn't look either, and she

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Speaker 2: walks straight out into the face of a car. We've

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Speaker 2: just got to realize that these modern devices are not

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Speaker 2: doing us a lot of good as a society. We've

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Speaker 2: got to realize that that going back to the good

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Speaker 2: old idea of walking every day is fantastic. Now we

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Speaker 2: recognize that parents are time poor. You can always start

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Speaker 2: half an hour earlier. You can always give your child

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Speaker 2: stop half a kilometer from the school, have a walk

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Speaker 2: with your child. You won't create a dangerous traffic jam

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Speaker 2: at the school, you won't pollute around the school, and

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Speaker 2: you'll both get really good exercise, and you can teach

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Speaker 2: your children how to cross a road.

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Speaker 1: Harold, tomorrow, twenty four years of course of National Walk

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Speaker 1: Safely to School Day. Are you how many people across

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Speaker 1: the nation are you expecting to see get involved?

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Speaker 2: Well, this has gone to eight thousand schools. There are

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Speaker 2: about two point five million school children involved. We hope

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Speaker 2: at least half of them are getting up and pounding

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Speaker 2: the pavement. Look, it's a matter of keeping on saying

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Speaker 2: the same old thing until it gets home to people.

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Speaker 2: And as you said, it's the twenty fourth year, people

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Speaker 2: are ready for it. But it's not just about doing

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Speaker 2: it tomorrow. It's about doing it every.

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Speaker 1: Day now, Harold, to anybody that's listening this morning that's thinking, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I do want to get involved. I mean, is there

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Speaker 1: a formal way that they need to do it or

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Speaker 1: can they just step out tomorrow and walk the kids

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Speaker 1: to school?

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, just walk. It's the most beautiful word in the dictionary,

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Speaker 2: the most beautiful fall of the word, possibly equal to love.

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Speaker 2: So you can love to walk, Katie. Let's just get

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Speaker 2: that expression out there. Get kids out there walking, hold

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Speaker 2: their hands when you're crossing the raid until they're ten,

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Speaker 2: and please smell the flowers. Realize that it is really

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Speaker 2: nice to have a walk. Tell your children that if

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Speaker 2: they walk before school they'll perform so much better. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: it's a no brainer and it ticks every box.

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Speaker 1: Well, harold all of it. I don't have a huge

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Speaker 1: amount of time i'm in the morning to be able

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Speaker 1: to walk the kids to school, because I do start

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Speaker 1: work very early. But I do on some days walk

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Speaker 1: the kids home, and I actually find that it's a

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Speaker 1: great opportunity for them to communicate with you a little

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Speaker 1: bit more about how their day has gone as well,

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Speaker 1: and all the different things that are sort of on

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Speaker 1: their mind on that day.

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Speaker 2: Fantastic, Katie. Walking home is just as good, although if

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Speaker 2: you can do it in the morning and your time

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Speaker 2: it's difficult, But before school means that they're much more

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Speaker 2: prepared to handle a day at school. There's so much

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Speaker 2: evidence about to show that if children walk before or

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Speaker 2: during school, they'll performing so much better at school. But

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Speaker 2: walking at any time is good for them, you know,

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Speaker 2: as you said, you get a chance to talk to them.

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Speaker 2: You notice half these kids in the back of these

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Speaker 2: cars and not talking to their parents, and if anyone

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Speaker 2: tries to interrupt them while they're mesmerized by these screens,

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Speaker 2: they get quite angry.

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Speaker 1: Oh, Harold, they clearly don't live at my place mate,

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Speaker 1: so I won't allow.

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Speaker 2: It on you unless you've disciplined your children enough to

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Speaker 2: realize that screen time is time that you set aside

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Speaker 2: for them. Yeah, they set aside when they might deign

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Speaker 2: to speak to you. Yeah, look, what should happen. That's

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Speaker 2: a modern phenomenon and it's not good. Children should not

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Speaker 2: be on screens all day. It's not helping them at all.

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Speaker 2: Physical activity, Katie, physical activity.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, Look, I couldn't agree more. Harold Screwby. It

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Speaker 1: is lovely to speak to you this morning. Thank you

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Speaker 1: so much for your time, and hopefully plenty of Territorians

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Speaker 1: get out there and walk safely to school tomorrow. Good

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Speaker 1: on you, Katie Wolf, thank you, thanks so much,