In this Know your Rights series 3 - Anti-Poverty week , our host Dan Cox, Broadcast Journalist with the ABC based in Newcastle Australia, will be speaking with three eminent Australians regarding Poverty in Australia, and what actions we can take to reduce poverty in our society and communities. In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Elder Laurie Perry will provide some insights regarding how  First Nations peoples are experiencing Poverty; Emma Dawson will expand our understanding of gendered poverty; and Father Rod Bower will walk with us along roads to reducing poverty and building connection.

In this episode we speak with Laurie Perry.

Laurie Perry is the current CEO of the Wonnarua National Aboriginal Corporation based in Singleton in the Upper Hunter. He was born in Sydney in 1964  and then moved back to his mother’s country Wonnarua in 1971. He went to school in Singleton, leaving in Year 10 to work in a petrol station and then at Liddell Colliery Ravensworth where he worked underground for 10 years before he was seriously hurt in an underground accident in 1990. He was air-lifted to Newcastle Hospital  where he received treatment for a punctured lung, fractured ribs and dislocated right knee. He returned to work 2 years later on the surface and was retrenched 6 months later when the mines closed. Former footballer, Laurie studied at TAFE for 5 years developing his business skills including Aboriginal tours across his country, setting up a number of small businesses along the way.

He has been CEO of the Wonnarua Nation Aboriginal Corporation for 8 years and his passion is to look after their membership community where . he lives, to make sure traditional country is protected. Whilst living in the largest mining, wine and tourism industry, he seeks to build a future in Aboriginal Industry, with the key objectives of supporting youth, emerging Elders, and current Elders, to reduce the high levels of you incarceration levels across our region, and create an Aboriginal economic future for all Aboriginal people living in Wonnarua Country.

Web links:  https://www.wonnarua.org.au/

This is a Newcastle Libraries REAL production.