Perth Rotarian Judith Pinczuk is awarded a Paul Harris Fellow at the Liquid Gold Polio Dinner. The Rotary Homeless Hub has an Eye Contact Exhibition of 20 large portraits showing homeless people in a sympathetic light, each with their own stories. It is designed to show their humanity and to encourage deep conversations about the realities affecting the more vulnerable of our community.
Senator Dean Smith contacted us about exhibiting the portraits to Federal politicians in Parliament House Canberra. It was a great opportunity to influence the country’s decision-makers. Senator Smith along with Judith and the team organised the event, including location, speakers, promotion, shipping the portraits over and back etc.
It was organised originally for September 2022, and we were set to go when news came through of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. Parliament House was closed as a mark of respect, and we had to defer the exhibition. The portraits had already been shipped and thus had to be stored until the event could be re-organised 6 months later, adding to the large expense . . .
The project would have not continued from this point had not Judith stepped in and offered a personal donation of $10,000 to cover the costs.
The exhibition Itself was held on 8th March 2023 in The Dorothy Tangney Alcove in Parliament House. Senator Smith was unable to attend and organised for Senator Linda Reynolds to open the event. It was fantastic. There were 20-30 politicians there with TV cameras from Channel 7, SBS, ABC, WIN. As well as Senator Reynolds other speakers were:
- Michael Sukkar MP, Shadow Minister for Housing & Homelessness
- Patrick Gorman MP, representing Julie Collins MP, Minister for Housing & Homelessness
- David Pearson, CEO Australian Alliance to End Homelessness
- Tara Sherwood, Perth Rotaractor, on behalf of Rotary
After the speeches all the politicians viewed and discussed the portraits. Clearly the portraits had made a significant impact. It seemed to us that, from that point on, the national political discussion became all about houses for the homeless. It was one of the hot issues in the Federal Election, and we have since seen a number of Federal initiatives to address the issue - like the National Housing Infrastructure Facility and the Housing Support Program. All in all it was a very successful event.
Judith Pinczuk was a member of the Homeless Hub team that organised the exhibition. We struggled for funds to make the event happen. It would not have been possible had not Judith personally donated $10,000 to the project. So it gives me great pleasure to award Judith a Paul Harris Fellow.
Ken Mullins | Chair D9423 Homeless Hubb Committee