ALLISON LANGDON, HOST : Malarndirri. He’s a wonderful human being and he's going to do amazing things with this platform, isn't he?
MALARNDIRRI MCCARTHY, SENATOR FOR THE NORTHERN TERRITORY: What an awesome guy. Dylan Alcott. We are all incredibly blessed to have you as our Australian of the year. But I think the message that he gives Ally, especially last night at the award ceremony. In his speech, he mentioned calling out to those of us who are not disabled to rethink, recheck our attitudes and the way we treat people with disabilities and the expectations we have or don't have for them. And I thought, Good on you, Dylan. I have a son in a wheelchair. He's a wheelchair athlete himself, and he certainly looks up to Dylan, and so do his basketball teammates. And I thought he's a terrific role model for our country this year,
KARL STEFANOVIC, HOST: 100 per cent and beautifully said to what kind of inspiration do you think he gives for his son in that case?
Speaker 4: Oh, look, and not just for CJ, Karl, but for all of his mates. You know, I've followed them closely with wheelchair basketball across Australia as they played for different teams. And I just think that it's about showing the rest of the world that disability or not, we're still people. We still require the same respect. We still want to be inspired to be the people that we're here to be. And please Australia, do that with us. And that's what Dylan was reminding all of us last night, and I think he's going to really achieve that this year.
STEFANOVIC: Malarndirri, Australia Day, the Australian of the Year. It's always interesting to see what people do with their platform. Obviously, he's following Grace Tame, who used to and went powerfully towards her cause and platform. She used it in her own different way. What did you think about what happened yesterday at Kirribilli?
MCCARTHY: Well, it was really Grace Tame being Grace Tame, wasn't it, Karl? You know, nothing should surprise us. This woman has inspired all throughout the year as she's moved the parliament, you know, moved mountains, moved the parliament to see that we need to make a difference. And so has Brittany Higgins as a duet. They've been awesome. Her reaction to the Prime Minister yesterday? Well, should it surprise anyone? You know, we as politicians, you know, I've certainly heard this said this morning, even that we love to have our photo opportunities and we certainly do. And we do that at a risk. And certainly, this is one that the Prime Minister needs to soak up and suck up
LANGDON: And Malarndirri, Australia Day, everyone marks it in different ways. How will you?
MCCARTHY: For me, it's certainly one that I take part in on so many different levels, you know, waking up at sunrise to reflect on the atrocities of our country in the beginning and certainly the relationships between black and white Australia that still need improving, in terms of high incarceration rates and deaths in custody. But I also then go on to the citizenship ceremony, and I'm so proud to welcome new citizens to this country and to see how they feel and listen to their stories of struggle and getting here. And so I see today as a day, whatever you wish to call it, it's a democracy. Just whatever you do today, be safe and respect one another's views.
STEFANOVIC: You’re a great communicator, Malarndirri, and we're very fortunate to have you on our programme.
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