Article courtesy of Guest Author Clinton Wolf, the managing director of National Indigenous Times and non-executive director of Madalahof the National Indigenous Times, and the National Indigenous Times.
Lately there have been a lot of headlines about Mrs Gina Rinehart, Hancock Prospecting and the $15 million sponsorship of Netball Australia’s Diamonds Team.
The subsequent hypocritical negativity from critics against Hancock Prospecting being a sponsor is puzzling to say the least.
Especially in light of the parlous state of Netball Australia’s finances and the prudent decision by its management and board to take advantage of a no strings attached sponsorship from Hancock Prospecting that may end up saving the sport as a whole.
A sport that is played by millions of Australians on a regular basis.
Let’s hope that these critics do not turn their hypocritical glare on Indigenous education.
There are a number of Indigenous charities doing their absolute best to ensure that Indigenous students have the best possible chance of succeeding and making a better life for themselves, their families and the wider community.
Madalah Ltd is one of those Indigenous Children’s Charities.
Madalah provides scholarships and holistic support to Indigenous West Australian Secondary and Tertiary Indigenous students to attend the best possible education institutions until they have graduated and secured employment for a pathway to a better future.
Madalah has a 95 per cent success rate and has won a host of awards for the work it is doing.
With 416 Indigenous students in 2022, soon to be 461, it is undeniably making significant inroads into Closing the Gap.
In spite of all these achievements, Madalah is chronically underfunded, due in part to the Western Australian Government continually refusing to provide any funding which is ironic given they have reaped a record $11 billion budget surplus in the last two years due in no small part to the mining industry.
If it wasn’t for the Federal Government providing some funding as a result of decisions made by the former Federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs Nigel Scullion and current Minister Linda Burney, the future of Madalah and the exceptional service and support it delivers would have been bleak at best.
It was because of these reasons, the Board of Madalah made an unprecedented and absolutely necessary decision to approach WA Industry about providing ongoing funding in a desperate bid to secure as many Indigenous scholarships for prospective students as it possibly could.
The Madalah Board’s decision ended up being correct because when it comes to supporting Indigenous education In Western Australia, it is Industry that has stepped up to the plate to address the widening funding shortfall.
Madalah was particularly grateful when at the instigation of Mrs Rinehart, the Roy Hill Community Foundation developed the Hanrine Futures Program and approached Madalah to partner with them in supporting Indigenous kids to secure scholarships.
The Roy Hill Community Foundation quickly committed to a multi-year, multi-million-dollar funding arrangement to ensure that many Indigenous kids could now have the opportunity they so desperately needed.
The Roy Hill Community Foundation’s Hanrine Futures Program funded by the Hancock Group of companies will provide long-term scholarships as well as training, work experience and internships through to employment.
Did Madalah agonise over partnering with Mrs Rinehart and her companies, absolutely not.
Many of the students who were provided scholarships are Traditional Owners of land on which mining activities are taking place and it is their families and communities urging the students to take advantage of the opportunity of a lifetime.
Madalah is proud to say that Mrs Gina Rinehart’s companies are among Madalah’s most important sponsors and supporters.
This also applies to all of Madalah’s Corporate partners who are desperately keen to see Traditional Owners and Indigenous people do well as a whole.
This is why both the direct benefits like royalties and indirect benefits such as contracting and employment arising from mining agreements are making a profound positive difference to thousands of Indigenous families throughout Australia.
Madalah is not going to throw Indigenous children’s futures away because of criticism of our sponsors by individuals or entities that have their own agendas.
Madalah does not have the luxury of callously disregarding the hopes and dreams of young Indigenous Australians.
That outcome is completely unacceptable.
There has been much criticism of Mrs Rinehart because Lang Hancock was her father.
Since when do we judge someone because of who their parents are or were or what they said?
What people perceive about someone is often the exact opposite of who that person actually is.
In spite of the negative headlines, Madalah ‘s experience has been that Mrs Rinehart is a kind and generous person who genuinely cares about Madalah and its Indigenous students.
Mrs Rinehart should be applauded for her generous sponsorship of Netball Australia, Madalah and a host of other very worthy causes that desperately need financial support which she supports without fanfare.
While others have criticised her from the sidelines, she does deeds with a good heart.
Actions always speak louder than words.
Further content courtesy of the West Australian.
