News

Aurizon, the largest rail-based transport business in Australia, is delighted to announce the successful recipients in the latest round of its Community Giving Fund.

The Aurizon Community Giving Fund is part of Aurizon’s ongoing commitment to supporting and engaging with the local communities in which it operates, with funding provided in the areas of education, community safety, environment and health and wellbeing.

Managing Director & CEO Andrew Harding said this current round of assistance will see support given to 40 local projects across the Company’s national footprint, with additional funding provided for its new operations in South Australia and the Northern Territory.

“Following the acquisition of the One Rail Australia business earlier this year, including the Tarcoola to Darwin railway, it is exciting to see the successful recipients of these Aurizon grants in South Australia and the Northern Territory,” he said.

“We are thrilled to be supporting the local communities in these two new locations in addition to those in Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia where our people live and work,” he added.

“In South Australia for example, we’re funding Short Back and Sidewalks Ltd. which offers free hair-cutting and grooming for people experiencing homelessness. They will use the funding to establish a new weekly service to be delivered at the Hutt Street Centre in Adelaide, providing 600 free haircuts per year.

“In the Northern Territory, Children's Ground Ltd. will use the Aurizon funding to assist with the production and release of educational Arrernte language music for children, with the aim of keeping the Arrernte language strong and visible and to provide opportunities to First Nations artists who will contribute to the production of the music. Arrernte, an Australian Aboriginal language, is spoken by about 3,000 people in Central Australia, particularly in Alice Springs.

“In New South Wales, the Australian Kookaburra Kids Foundations Ltd. will use the funds to sponsor approximately 20 young people in the Illawarra region to attend Kookaburra Kids camps. These camps deliver an activities-based program for young people aged from 8 to 18 whose development has been impacted by a parent/sibling's mental illness.

“In Western Australia, WA PCYC will use the funding to help with the delivery of 10 sessions of the WACA Deadly Cricket Program aimed at Indigenous females aged between 12 and 17 years, giving them the opportunity to participate in a sport.

“In Queensland, LifeFlight Foundation Ltd. will use the funding for their 'First Minute Matters' community trauma training program at locations across Bowen, Moranbah, Emerald and Blackwater. The training, open to all community residents in these regional areas, will equip participants with the necessary lifesaving skills, including emergency first aid protocols, enabling them to deal with emergencies as first responders on the scene of a traumatic accident or medical episode.

“I would like to thank each and every community group for the time and effort they took to apply.”

A list of the latest Community Giving Fund recipients and their projects are detailed here.

(Pictured: Two of the successful recipients from this current round of funding. Left-Short Back and Sidewalks Limited - Adelaide, South Australia; Right-Children’s Ground Limited - Alice Springs, the Northern Territory.)

Background

Aurizon’s Community Giving Fund distributes funds bi-annually and provides grants of up to $20,000. More than 540 charities and not-for-profit groups across Australia have received grants since the Fund was established in 2011.

The next round of applications for the Community Giving Fund will open in March 2023.

For more information about the Community Giving Fund, visit  www.aurizon.com.au/community

For more information, please contact:

Aurizon Corporate Affairs: media@aurizon.com.au