News

FORMER EELS STAR BUILDS SELF-ESTEEM Forging a better future for kids

 DALLAS SHERRINGHAM

WHEN Parramatta star David Gower was balancing his NRL career with life as a father of three, he came to realise that some children needed a help in life as they suffered a significant decline in self-esteem as they progressed through their school years.

It started him thinking about a project to assist young people with good mental health. "I had a 10-year career and by the end of it, I'd seen a lot of teammates struggle with mental health and wellbeing," he told Wide World of Sports (WWOS).

David said having a young family made him realise that the battle for mental wellbeing needed to start far earlier than adulthood or our teenage years. "Watching athletes at the top of their game struggle with it I thought 'you know what? I'm equally as concerned for my kids' - and what better place to start than with young kids and students," David said.

He retired from the NRL in 2020 and quickly turned his attention towards mental health - founding the organisation called Forge Wellbeing, which focuses on the wellbeing of schoolkids.

Forge Wellbeing has recently conducted the Weet-Bix Feed Their Belief Report, which found that declining self-esteem is one of the biggest mental wellbeing issues Aussie kids are facing. "If we can embed positive aspects of wellbeing, we have a real opportunity of essentially having a generation of kids who understand the importance of good mental health," David said.

He believes that education is trending in the right direction - and that the days of telling kids to have a stiff upper lip and get on with it are behind us. "Everyone always says 'just be more resilient' but what does that even mean? It's a learned skill, resilience and it's made up of positive emotions, self-esteem, positive relationships - you can't just wake up in your late teens and be resilient," he said.

What good are academics if you don't actually feel good about yourself?

"The earlier we start empowering our kids, the earlier we're going to have kids that have the skills required to deal with adversity. These are extremely important steps - what good are academics if you don't actually feel good about yourself?" David's time at the top - especially at a club like Parramatta where fans are craving success after a long title drought - came with plenty of teammates who he saw fi rst-hand doing it tough. "Everything associated with pressure and expectation. Athletes are no diff erent to anyone else, but there's all these things that are part and parcel of being a professional athlete that you aren't immune from,” he told WWOS. "Gone are the days of 'real men don't cry'. That is an absolutely archaic mentality that society has had for a long time, but I don't think it's still there, it is changing.”

That was his reason for starting Forge Wellbeing – and key research certainly backs him up.

“Our data provides an unparalleled insight into the wellbeing of Aussie kids. However, it sadly shows that a child’s mindset declines in positivity as they progress through their school years.”

David Gower in action for Parramatta.

“By sharing these insights in the WeetBix Feed their Belief Report, we’re hoping to help parents and caregivers understand the factors that impact their child’s ability to believe in themselves, feel positive about the world around them and ready to face the challenges life will inevitably throw their way”, he said.

The Weet-Bix Feed their Belief Report uncovers the mindset of 27,000 Aussie kids and provides tips to fuel their self-belief from parenting expert Dr. Justin Coulson. • 1 in 5 students already feel negative about their self-esteem when they enter high school. • 40% of Year 12 students don’t feel optimistic. 10% of all high school students say they don’t feel positive at all. • 80% of teenagers report positive relationships with parents and friends and strong values around social contribution

The Weet-Bix Feed their Belief Report found a signifi cant decline of 35% in self-esteem, optimism, competence and positive emotions between Kindergarten and Year 12.

The report explores the current mindset amongst Australian children as they progress through school across eight key wellbeing domains: Positive Emotions, Meaning, Optimism, Positive Relationships, Competence, Engagement, Self-Esteem, and Social Contribution. multiple contexts and demonstrate positive and respectful adult relationships.

Business Technology Centre

Let’s get your business devices doing more.

With a cloud-based alternative to on-premise phone systems, Cloud PBX Calling enables your team to make and take business calls - whether they are in the office or not.

Let’s get talking streamlining connecting solving.

Connect with a technology advisor today. Call your local Telstra Business Technology Centre.

TBTC Sydney West 164 Merrylands Road, Merrylands • 02 8868 1188 TBTC Sydney Outer West 1/ 308 High Street, Penrith • 02 4722 7777

UGLY DUCKLING NO MORE…. Dream city project for Rosehill

 DALLAS SHERRINGHAM

ADREAM showpiece city will be developed on a former industrial site at Rosehill which has been known as an ‘ugly duckling’ suburb since early last a century.

In days gone by, punters went to Rosehill racecourse to bet or nearby factories to work, both chasing dreams of one kind or another.

Today, most of the workers have gone, leaving only the punters to give the place a boost on race days and keep the Great Australian Dream of success alive.

But all that is about to change with the fi rst steps to transform the industrial heartland into a residential hub on the doorstep of Parramatta’s CBD being taken with submissions closing for the Camellia-Rosehill Place Strategy.

It is part of a a 20-year plan to redevelop an under-utilised, complex and toxic site that, nevertheless, has potential. The precinct includes the historically signifi cant Rosehill racetrack.

“The NSW government’s Camellia-Rosehill Place Strategy will feature a town centre and thousands of new homes that will be supported by infrastructure and public spaces,” Colliers’ National Director of Industrial Tony Durante said in a media report.

“This will be accompanied by a new urban services precinct as well as heavy industrial land that will ensure there is a broad mix of employment opportunities within the precinct.”

The place strategy is zoned mixed-use, with an emphasis on urban renewal and the project has been welcomed by civic leaders.

Acting director of the Greater Parramatta and Olympic Peninsula Jazmin van Veen told a recent online forum discussing the future of the precinct, there was an opportunity to create an integrated network of green infrastructure and complete the missing link along the Parramatta River which would connect the Parramatta CBD through to Olympic Park.

“The place strategy is also looking at improved road accessibility, which will enhance the productivity of both the current industrial uses and encourage employment growth,” she said.

Best of all, the self-contained, 300ha precinct is defi ned by clear borders with the Parramatta River to the north, Duck

Parramatta CBD and right, Tony Durante.

River to the east, the M4 to the south and James Ruse Dve to the west.

And the site will be crossed by the Parramatta light rail, which is key to opening up the precinct. The land includes the asbestos-contaminated Viva Energy site, a major hazard facility at the east of the precinct, which requires remediation.

Opening up the precinct

The precinct is at the heart of a massive program of infrastructure investment in Western Sydney, accounting for approximately 90% of future transport infrastructure funding that has been allocated by the NSW government to date.

The $16.8bn WestConnex road, a 33km underground motorway between Homebush and Kingsgrove, to be completed in 2023, is a crucial piece of infrastructure.

If it is approved, the Camellia-Rosehill place strategy makes provision for a thriving town centre and a late-night entertainment precinct next to the existing Rosehill racecourse.

The proposal details new public open spaces, including opening up the Parramatta River foreshore, as well as new schools. There will still be some heavy industrial land use on the site so as not to compromise the precinct's role as an industrial and employment hub.

The NSW government estimates renewal of the precinct will create 14,500 jobs and lead to 10,000 new homes being built.

The plan takes a holistic approach to addressing the contamination of the Viva Energy site, and addresses the potential for land use confl ict between industrial and residential uses.

The Camellia-Rosehill site has numerous restrictions with which developers will have to grapple. For example, a signifi cant volume of heavy vehicle traffi c uses the precinct, but access is constrained by just two roads.

Potential fl ooding is another problem that will have to be considered.

Colliers’ Tony Durante said it was a mistake to underestimate the scale of what’s required for access.

“The largest barrier facing rezoning is that land that was formally zoned for heavy industrial purposes will require suitable remediation to qualify for an alternative and rezoning.”

He said transport was the main planning constraint, although this was being resolved with improved connections, including light rail and road upgrades scheduled to be incorporated into the development.

Sources – Urban Developer, Colliers

Car regos now a lot easier

FORGETTING or losing vehicle registration paperwork is now a thing of the past, with the NSW Government launching a fully digitised, paperless rego service. Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government Victor Dominello said the new Digital Vehicle Registration service is a one-stop shop for millions of drivers, offering digital renewal notifications and a Certificate of Registration all in one place. “Around 16 per cent of registrations are not renewed on time due to paperwork being damaged, misplaced or simply stuck on the fridge and forgotten about,” Mr Dominello said. The service is optional meaning customers will continue to receive a paper renewal notice unless they opt-in.

To opt-in to Digital Vehicle Registration, visit service.nsw.gov.au.

Surge in odometer tampering

CONSUMERS are being warned about odometer tampering after a fourfold increase in the number of fines issued for the offence in NSW, with hundreds of thousands of kilometres being knocked off vehicle odometers and sold to unsuspecting buyers. Minister for Fair Trading Eleni Petinos said as used motor vehicle sales have risen amid the COVID-19 pandemic, so too have incidents of odometer fraud where perpetrators wind back the mileage or replace the odometer with one showing fewer kilometres.

“NSW Fair Trading Investigators dished out $112,200 in fi nes and 76 penalty notices in 2021 and 2022 – a huge jump from 22 total penalties in 2020,” Ms Petinos said. In one case a seller shaved off more than 400,000km off a 2012 Subaru XV, reducing the odometer from 470,000km down to 52,709km. The vehicle was then sold for $32,000, an $11,000 increase on the original sale price. To report suspected odometer tampering, visit: www.service.nsw.gov. au/transaction/report-suspected-odometer-tampering