Speeches
Monday, 21 September 2026
Morning Tea to celebrate five years of the GOGO Foundation’s Inclusive Work Program
It’s my pleasure to welcome you to Government House to celebrate five years of the GOGO Foundation’s Inclusive Work Program.
As your patron, I warmly thank the GOGO Board, staff, volunteers, supporters and partners who have helped make IWP what it is today.
Most importantly, I want to acknowledge the graduates of the Program who are here with us this morning.
This celebration is, above all, about you, and the journeys that have brought you here.
Since the program began, more than 150 participants have been supported to build the confidence, skills and connections needed to take their next steps.
Each participant will have arrived with their own circumstances, experiences and aspirations.
What I find particularly compelling about GOGO’s approach is its understanding that a pathway into safe and sustainable employment begins with the whole person.
That might mean building confidence with technology, preparing for an interview for the first time, or understanding your rights, and what a safe and respectful workplace should look like.
These may seem like small steps, but they can have a significance that extends well beyond the nine weeks of the program.
They can change the way someone sees themselves, the way they approach an opportunity and, ultimately, what they believe is possible.
I was particularly struck to hear about graduates returning to GOGO to meet participants in later cohorts and share their experiences.
Someone who once sat where you are sitting today can return and show another participant what may be possible.
There is something very powerful about that.
It speaks to the confidence that graduates have gained, but also to the connections that have been created through the program.
Those connections are made possible by many people.
The GOGO team and volunteers bring their time, knowledge and experience.
Ambassadors and service organisations help participants navigate the challenges they may be facing.
Businesses and employers create opportunities to take those next steps into the workplace, and supporters provide the resources that allow the program to continue and grow.
To all of you, thank you.
Helping someone into employment when they are facing complex barriers requires much more than job skills.
It requires people who are willing to listen, advocate, make connections and stay alongside someone when things become difficult.
That commitment is central to the success of the Inclusive Work Program.
Five years is an important milestone.
It is also an opportunity to look ahead.
I hope that five years from now, GOGO will be celebrating many more participants who have found employment, returned to study, discovered new possibilities and, most importantly, gained the confidence to choose the direction of their own lives.
I hope, too, that some of those who have taken part in the program will return here, just as graduates have done before them, to share their experiences with future participants and say: “I was where you are and look where I am now.”
That, perhaps, is one of the greatest measures of what GOGO has achieved over these five years.
Congratulations, and thank you for helping create a program that not only opens doors but gives people the confidence to walk through them.
I wish you every success for the next five years.