Tim O'Leary
Tim O'Leary is General Manager, Communications, Sponsorships & Community at National Australia Bank. Tim is responsible for business communications, sponsorships and community relations.
Tim joined National Australia Bank in 1999 as Head of Global Communications for the Products & Services division. He was appointed Head of Communications & Change Management for the Shared Services division in 2001 and General Manager, Corporate Affairs for NAB's Australian region in 2004.
Tim holds an Honours Degree in Arts and a postgraduate degree in Philosophy from the University of Melbourne. He is a member of Council at Newman College (University of Melbourne) and on the Board of the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation.
What a reconciled Australia looks like to me.
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit an Aboriginal school in Alice Springs. The school draws its students from the town camps and outlying communities. There are around 250 kids on the roll; on the day we were there, just over 100 were in attendance.
We met the Principal, a white man, together with the cultural principal, an Aboriginal woman, and the school chairman, a reserved, distinguished-looking Aboriginal man who is also a Lutheran minister.
The school does it tough. Attendance is erratic and funding is scarce. Only a few make it to secondary levels. Many of the kids come from dysfunctional home environments, surrounded by substance abuse and grog, violence and general misery. One 10 year old boy witnessed both parents murdered within a space of six months last year.
And yet in spite of all this, the school is making a difference. The staff seem happy and dedicated; the kids engaged and affectionate. As best they can teachers nurture ambition in the kids and encouragement is ever present. I was struck by the simple beauty of the children's hand writing. Four Aboriginal languages are taught and maintained. The school provides breakfast and a hot lunch, giving the kids at least some nutritional underpinning to their diet.
Far from sensationalised media reports and political posturing, we glimpse in this school reconciliation writ small - the challenges and the hope.
Despite despair at home, these Aboriginal kids see black and white teachers collaborating every day for their benefit. They experience care and support. They have no finer advocate for their future than the white principal.
A small team of Israeli educators are also at the school as part of an ambitious trial program to improve literacy and numeracy, established by a Melbourne-based group of philanthropists and corporates. It seems to be working on the ground and attracting the interest of governments.
It's hard not to be persuaded that education is key. And that through the experience of dedicated and loving teachers (both black and white), black kids might find the confidence to face tomorrow's battles and that white fellas might see in these schools models to be replicated (and funded) around the country.
Maybe this is the best way to approach reconciliation - good people doing good work, black and white together, rooted in education, small steps, local models, not too much publicity, and moving with the punches.
Tim O'Leary
