2025 Australian of the Year, Neale Daniher AO, inspires Western Australian students to be resilient
On Thursday 10 April, Auspire, in partnership with the Department of Education WA, introduced more than 200 high school students to 2025 Australian of the Year, Neale Daniher AO.
The exclusive student forum event, held at Wanneroo Secondary College, gave students from schools in and around Perth the opportunity to hear from Neale, a hero to many as an AFL legend and motor neurone disease (MND) research campaigner as co-founder of FightMND.
For the duration of the forum, students donned Big Freeze beanies, in recognition of the annual event held at the MCG to raise awareness of MND and funds to help find a cure.
Neale began his presentation in honour of his 6-year-old grandson Cooper, who was in the audience, which led him to give his life lessons on how to be resilient.
Following his presentation, Neale’s daughter and FightMND campaign director, Bec Daniher, joined him on stage for a Q&A, made up of prepared questions from the students attending, who wanted to know more about Neale’s favourite memory in AFL, the impact he’s made, what keeps him going, and how people get to be a slider at the Big Freeze!
Through Neale’s experiences, he encouraged the young audience that life is not just about survival, it’s about significance.
We also heard from Department of Education WA Communications Director, Marie-Anne Keeffe; Department of Education WA Executive Director, Professional Standards and Conduct, Mary Brown; and Wanneroo Secondary College Principal, Justine McNaught-Conroy, to welcome guests and students to the venue for the event.
Thank you to the Department of Education WA for supporting this event.
View all photos from the event here.