2026 VIC Australian of the Year - Bryan Lipmann AM

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[Music]

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Anger has a um a bad reputation, but

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anger can also be a powerful motivator.

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Staff member rang me recently and she

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said, “I have an 83y old woman living

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under a bridge.” The woman said to my

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worker in a trembly old 83y old voice,

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“If you could just get me a room for a

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couple of nights, I’ll go back to the

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bridge.”

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83 years old.

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[Music]

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I mean, if these stories don’t don’t

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make your blood boil, there’s something

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wrong, isn’t there? I mean, there has to

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be an element of controlled anger in my

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work. There has to be. I started as a

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young social worker at a homeless

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person’s night shelter in Melbourne. I

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saw acts of um want and kindness, but I

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saw horrific scenes of brutality. Into

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all of that male stream, I saw elderly,

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frail people who shouldn’t have been in

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such an environment. And uh so my whole

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effort was trying to get them out and

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into quality and secure housing where

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they had some level of security and um

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and people cared about them.

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Winter works with people who society is

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abandoned. They’re often uh isolated and

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lonely and frightened. So we feel that

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they should have access to good quality

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age care. First two years I was the only

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employee but it is now grown to be the

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largest provider of housing and age care

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services for elderly homeless people.

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Primarily it starts off with housing um

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and social work services for people who

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are vulnerable through to u full age

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care services whether it’s firstly in

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the home which is homes that we would

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either build or be public housing or

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then it goes to nursing homes. Winryham

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in fact has the the first nursing home

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for homeless people in Australia and

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probably the first one in the world.

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One of the inspiring things is to see

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elderly homeless people who arrive tail

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between their legs, frightened,

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timbered, and slowly opening up like a

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like a flower and um and starting to

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learn to trust. And then the crowning

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achievement is when they start to

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complain.

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That’s that’s such a wonderful

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experience when a homeless person looks

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at you and says, “The food’s shit.”

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It means that they they know they’re not

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going to get evicted. They’re not going

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to get punched for complaining. They are

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rejoining the human race. It’s so

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exciting when that happens.

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[Music]

Updated 9 January 2026

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2026 VIC Australian of the Year - Bryan Lipmann AM

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