WA Labor Senator and former truckie Glenn Sterle slips back behind the wheel of a road train next week to support indigenous families in the remote East Kimberley region.
In partnership with Revive, the recycling centre in Kununurra, Sterle, 60, is making the 3000km drive from Perth to Kununurra to deliver trailer loads of donated furniture to help those who need it most.
“I am really looking forward to dusting off the cobwebs and putting my skills that I gained prior to entering Parliament to good use in the East Kimberley where I cut my teeth as a young truck driver,” he said on his Facebook page.
“Since I put the call out for donations of unwanted furniture, my office has been inundated with calls and emails from extremely generous rank and file WA Labor party members and people who heard about the project, offering to donate and support this exciting project.
“I am pleased to report that I now have a road train full of donated furniture that I will be loading and driving to the Revive Team at East Kimberley Job Pathways in Kununurra.”
Sterle thanked everyone who had made the long haul possible, including a special shout out to Nick, Bruno, Knobby, Doyley and Dave at KEYS – The Moving Solution in Canning Vale who helped him load all of the furniture into a pan and two containers so they are ready for the journey.
The trip came about after a visit by Sterle to Kununurra in August to talk with indigenous leaders about training and employment opportunities in the East Kimberley.
East Kimberley Job Pathways – owned by the Wunan Foundation – now provides training and employment programs throughout the remote region.
After identifying the many training and employment opportunities for local people through possible recycling ventures, EKJP created a program which trains and now employs local Aboriginal people to collect and repair recyclable items for their recycling store named Revive.
Sterle said the workers repair old furniture and push bikes as well as create art out of used materials and sell them at an affordable price to local families with all money raised going towards training local Aboriginal workers.
“I asked if they’d take second-hand furniture from Perth to help their cause if it could be arranged and they said absolutely.”