Anthony Miller

[00:00:03] Speaker A: Okay, that was Margaret Ulick. Gee, that's a hard name to say with escaping. And at the moment we've got, we always have. Well, generally on a, a Wednesday we have guests. We usually have scales, but they can't come in today. But we've also, we've got a very interesting guest. We've got Anthony. Good morning, Anthony. [00:00:28] Speaker B: Good morning, mate. [00:00:31] Speaker A: Can you, can you give us a little bit about. Just a bit, a little bit about yourself? [00:00:37] Speaker B: Thanks, mate. Yeah. I'm currently living in Kwinana. I'm a counselor. I'm the projects director for Quinana Rotary and I'm here to promote Lift the Lid for Mental health. [00:01:00] Speaker A: Yes. Okay, so we're speaking off air. I was speaking to Anthony off air and I asked him where he's, where he's, where he's been and how he got here. And he said, we'll be here until about 3:00 clock tomorrow morning, Nick, if you want to go through that. So. But can you just give us a brief, a brief history of what you've been doing? Well, saying your life, you know, what brought you here, where you're from, all that sort of stuff. Sure, Anthony, sure. [00:01:34] Speaker B: The last 15 years I've been doing community work, working with children and young people in China, Borneo, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Northern Territory of Australia in a community based occupation, training, education, counseling. And the last three years I've been here, I worked with the Salvation army, with the homeless people within the homeless community within Rockingham Kwanana area. Now I'm currently working with Kwana Rotary and I'm also a member of the homeless hub. [00:02:18] Speaker A: Yes. So that was safe for the last 15 years. So were you in a trade or, or something before that or what were you working at before that entry? [00:02:31] Speaker B: I was, I was apprentice bricklayer. This is my. I want to trade him a bricklayer trade in. And I joined the Australian Army. I did six years in the Australian Army. [00:02:41] Speaker A: Oh, wow. Yeah. [00:02:42] Speaker B: And then I came out and I did. I went and worked with my father in our family construction business. And around about 2006 or 7, I was looking for a career change. I'd had enough of the construction business. [00:02:56] Speaker A: Oh, okay. [00:02:58] Speaker B: And I met a gentleman at the airport, a random stranger that offered me a job. In China? No, to build him a village from bamboo. [00:03:11] Speaker A: Seriously? [00:03:11] Speaker B: Seriously. I took the job offer and flew six weeks later to China. And that's where my life changed. And I got into community, my career changed. I got into community development. I built the bamboo village with help from the locals. [00:03:28] Speaker A: This is so how Long ago was that. [00:03:33] Speaker B: That offer came from the gentleman. Lovely Tasmanian man. It was around about July 2009. [00:03:41] Speaker A: 2009. So we're now 20, 24. So it's 15 years. It's meeting a lot of people in my life as we. We all do. It's. It's a huge career change, isn't it? Like from a. A brick layer to going to build a. Something in China. That is amazing. [00:04:07] Speaker B: Yes, yes, it was. It was just out of the blue. I was waiting, actually waiting for a plane at Sydney airport to fly from Sydney to Perth to do some construction work over here. [00:04:20] Speaker A: Seriously. [00:04:21] Speaker B: Bloke just walked up. How you going? You might have to sit down. That was it. [00:04:25] Speaker A: So why. Why did you say, was it because you wanted a career change or was it because all this could be a good experience? [00:04:36] Speaker B: Both. It was also my head. My mental health wasn't the best at that time either. So I was. I was depressed, I was anxious, I was purposeless, directionless, and I was searching desperately for something, anything. And this gentleman just came like he was sent. Like an angel. [00:04:58] Speaker A: Yeah. So how is it, how has it helped you then? [00:05:03] Speaker B: It's going to the places and living with and I. All them countries I named. I never went into the big cities. I was all in the farmlands and the mountains. And so I was humbled by these people. Some of the poorest people on the planet, but the most friendliest, welcomingest and happiest. [00:05:27] Speaker A: It's a. It's a conundrum, isn't it, like. And it seems to me, I'm on to question whether. A statement in it as well, Anthony, like here and. And we're very affluent here generally. I know, look, I know there's homelessness and I'm not trying to gloss over that, but in a. As a generalization, sometimes it's all there for us. In West Australia, you know, you can go out, you can get a job. I know there's. Okay, I'm not trying to say there's. I mean, not unemployment, not homelessness, but it's still one of the few places where you can really make a go of it, still get a house. I know it's hard, but you have all these things, you know. You know, a lot of the people who come from overseas, they work as a family. [00:06:19] Speaker B: Yes. [00:06:19] Speaker A: Live somewhere, save up well, somebody else, blah, blah, blah. So we still are the land of. Still a lot of opportunity. So you're saying that that side of being humble was more than. Not more. It's a great experience. [00:06:38] Speaker B: It. It was A wonderful experience, Nick. I felt a sense of community again that I'd lost here when I was wandering around, lost and directionless and looking for something. When I went to Asia, to China to start with, I felt a sense of community again, of belonging. And then consequently, I spent right up until 2021 in these countries, these different countries. When I came back to Australia, to Perth, I actually came back to do a placement for my Bachelor of Community Services. [00:07:13] Speaker A: Okay. [00:07:13] Speaker B: And I was shocked by the levels of. I'd not. Didn't realize that homelessness was so. Yes, I really didn't. I was. And that's what kept me here. [00:07:24] Speaker A: Oh. I mean, that's what I said. I wasn't trying to. When we were chatting before, I wasn't trying to say, I'll just brush over that. There's no such thing. But I know obviously, to any. It's unfortunately not getting any better. And I've chatted because we have scales come in here quite often, and they're a great organization. And, you know, if you do some quick maths, and. Not that I'm brilliant at maths, but if you're looking at 600 bucks a week rent, which is not unheard of, multiply that by. By 50 weeks of the year, that's $30,000 before you start to put in things like car petrol, food. Food. And I think you've got to earn quite a bit of money just to survive. And what do you do now? [00:08:21] Speaker B: What do I do now? Now I'm as part of Rotary Quinana. I'm heavily involved within the community, organizing different events. Like we've got. Coming up. We've got a Bunnings barbecue. [00:08:36] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. [00:08:37] Speaker B: We've got a. What is it? A reconciliation ceremony that's happening that will provide the barbecue and everything for. For the ladies at the Women's center, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women's Center. I'm a member of the Rotary Homeless Hub. [00:08:57] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. [00:08:58] Speaker B: Our. Our aim there is to advocate for the housing. [00:09:05] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:09:08] Speaker B: What was it called? The Hydpak Festival. [00:09:11] Speaker A: Yes. [00:09:11] Speaker B: In last weekend or the weekend before. [00:09:13] Speaker A: Okay. [00:09:14] Speaker B: Well, I set up a store. We set up a stall there, and we invite. The Minister for Housing came, which we were really, really grateful for, and we had a good talk with him, and he was explaining how the government. What they're trying to do. [00:09:26] Speaker A: Yes. [00:09:27] Speaker B: With regard to capping rents and. And many other things that, quite honestly, I forgot I'm on. But we're making progress in that regard. There's a project that we're involved with called tiny homes. [00:09:42] Speaker A: Okay. [00:09:43] Speaker B: Where the government provides the land and then we have volunteer builders, hardware suppliers, and they. The last one was late last year, November, December in East Fremantle. [00:09:58] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:09:58] Speaker B: There was 18 homes that we organized there that were finished, completed and they now got people in there. [00:10:04] Speaker A: Oh, that's brilliant, isn't it? [00:10:05] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. So more projects like that is what we're trying to advocate for. [00:10:10] Speaker A: Is it difficult? [00:10:11] Speaker B: Very, very difficult. There's that. There's that. What do they call them? Nimby's not in my backyard. Oh, that attitude. It was. It's not now. Forgive me. It's not now as bad because the housing crisis is becoming so serious. [00:10:32] Speaker A: Yes, yes. So what would you're continuing to look out for? What? When you say homelessness, obviously you want to get people in homes. So how do you go about finding homes or getting homes? [00:10:48] Speaker B: We constantly ringing people up, talking to people, sending messages out to people. People such as hardware suppliers, builders that may be interested. There's shelter wa. There's many other organizations that are also involved in the nuts and bolts side of it. We try to spread the word through Rotary, through our members of Rotary. I mean, Rotary International has 1.5 million members around the planet. [00:11:23] Speaker A: Wow. [00:11:23] Speaker B: And so there's Quinana, Rockingham. There's Quinano. Sorry, there's Rockingham Rotary, Quinano Rotary. They're all over the place, clubs. [00:11:37] Speaker A: So the people at Rotary are volunteers? [00:11:40] Speaker B: Yes, every single one of us. We're all volunteers. [00:11:43] Speaker A: So with a lot of. It's so interesting to volunteer industry, if you like, because we're all volunteers here as well. Do you have trouble? Trouble is not the right word. Is it difficult to get new members into Rotary? [00:12:03] Speaker B: Very. Yeah, it's very difficult. We. We spread the word and it's a strange age. Bracket. [00:12:19] Speaker A: Demographic. [00:12:20] Speaker B: Demographic. Yeah. We look for people over 50 because most of them are semi retired and they can afford to spend the time. [00:12:28] Speaker A: Yes, yes. [00:12:31] Speaker B: We have a thing called Rotoract, which is mainly focused on the younger people to try to get them involved in the community. I volunteer my time on Thursday, Friday morning and Saturday morning. On Saturday morning we take a big truck and we go and pick up furniture that's being donated. And we donate that. We sell that very cheap. We have a number one gentle road on. [00:12:59] Speaker A: Yeah. Up in Medina. Yeah, I know. Yeah. [00:13:02] Speaker B: It's called the furniture factory. [00:13:04] Speaker A: Oh, is that right? [00:13:05] Speaker B: Yeah. So we'll go and empty people's houses for whatever reason it may be. Mum's being sent to a retirement village or whatever. And then we'll sell that to to the public or for charity. All the money that we make is for charity. [00:13:21] Speaker A: I find it amazing. Interviewing A lot of people want to say, like yourselves, who come from different organizations, that we and that's why I say to all the people coming here, Anthony, that my students.