Page 2225 - Week 07 - Thursday, 7 August 2014

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with as it is with the lack of car parking space. The use of such road coverings perhaps is not appropriate. Perhaps we could have the car park fixed and made more usable for the ratepayers of Weston Creek.

Mr Gavin Jones

MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo—Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, Minister for Corrective Services, Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs and Minister for Sport and Recreation) (5.01): I would like to express my condolences on the death of Mr Gavin Jones, a man who grew up on Ngunnawal and Gundungurra country and a founder of the prestigious Deadly Awards.

Gavin’s family connection was in the country between Cowra and Goulburn. His passing on 12 July 2014 was felt not just in Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community but throughout this nation. He grew up in Goulburn, received his bachelor’s degree in communication at the University of Canberra, and followed his vision to support all Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people in reaching their full potential by providing positive imagery, identifiable role models and quality media to improve community and quality of life.

He has previously spoken about his motivations for starting Vibe Australia being in part after the 1990s Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, which partly found that negative stereotypes of Indigenous people were contributing, or do contribute, to the perpetual cycle of disadvantage and racism.

He founded a weekly radio show called Deadly Sounds, and the Deadly Awards that are screened live on SBS television. Within four years of his graduation, Gavin started Deadly Sounds in 1993, which is now heard on over 200 Indigenous stations all over Australia, followed by the Deadly Vibe magazine in 1995, the first such publication of its kind, and which celebrated its 200th issue last year.

Following the success of Deadly Vibe, Gavin Jones launched InVibe, a Deadly Vibe insert targeted at incarcerated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults and youth, with positive and educational messages about mental and sexual health, substance abuse, and Vibe’s mission of promoting pride and self-worth. The Vibe 3on3 travelling youth event was designed to further reiterate Vibe’s mission and improve health awareness among Indigenous youth. He was about projecting positive images for and of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The annual Deadly Awards ceremony started in Sydney two decades ago to celebrate achievement, excellence and the best of the Indigenous community’s sportspeople, musicians and artists. The Deadlys, as they are affectionately known, has grown into a huge annual event held at Sydney’s Opera House, broadcast on SBS and reaching more than half a million people. This year was to be the 20th Deadlys. A message on the Deadly Vibe website said:

Noted for his generosity, kindness, and genuine care for others, Gavin was one of the true pioneers and heroes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander advancement, and will be missed and remembered by the countless individuals whose lives he touched, and helped to improve.


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