Getting young people off the streets and motivated to live their best lives is the goal of local community activist Kirsty Burchill, something which has gained the attention and support from KAP candidate for the state seat of Cook, Tanika Parker.

The 27-year-old, Ms Burchill is the community co-ordinator for the ‘Making Bama Brave, Strong and Busy’ project run by the Bamanga Bubu Ngadimunku Aboriginal Corporation.

Ms Burchill works helping young people in the community become motivated to make positive changes in their lives.

She helps them get drivers’ licences, become job-ready, connect with others in the community, and embrace their inner mojo, just to name a few.

Recently Ms Burchill has combined her personal passion for fitness and health, with her love for her people and her community by turning her garage into an amateur gym, inspiring young people to train with her, learn new skills and find their drive for a better life.

In doing this, she hopes to create a safe place for people in the community to come and find a focus and a passion, while improving their mental and physical health.

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Mr Burchill is looking to one day expand and create a facility to work at a greater capacity to be able to implement programs to help people no matter who they are or where they come from.

KAP candidate for Cook in the state election, Tanika Parker said, “this is just the sort of program and people KAP supports.

‘We’re all about community – building communities, keeping communities safe, and making communities healthy.

‘What Kirsty is doing is combining all three of those goals.

‘In parliament, particularly if KAP holds the balance of power in a minority government, we’ll do everything in our power to make sure strong local community projects receive government backing’.

Ms Burchill’s inspiration for her project comes from her own experiences of turning her life around and finding her passion.

After finishing school, Ms Burchill admits she began leading an unhealthy lifestyle, drinking heavily, and was stuck in a rut for a few years, until one day she woke up and realised this was not the life her parents had given her.

Set on changing her lifestyle, Ms Burchill, began eating healthily, joined the gym, lost 30kg, got a job in the community, and began studying.

“Within that period of starting the gym, I felt I could develop my career further utilising my passion for fitness and also my passion for helping other people,” Ms Burchill said.

“My love for the gym and health is such a big part of my make-up and it’s how I have gotten back on track with my mental and physical health, so I want to open a facility that does that for the entire community.

“So, I had a chat with Tanika Parker about what I wanted to do, and it is not just to open a gym but to run programs to get people engaged, especially for those who are disengaged in the community.

“We have a lot of youth crime that is occurring within our region so I think by starting with our physical and mental health through programs that stem from discipline, we won’t change the world overnight, but it will do something,” Ms Burchill said.

Ms Parker said the KAP agreed, believing strongly that personal behavioural change was driven by robust community projects that promoted early intervention into the lives of at-risk young people.

“We know crime is a real issue in regional Queensland,” Ms Parker said.

“But traditional sentencing and incarceration laws don’t work, particularly for young offenders.

“KAP has a Relocation Sentencing policy which would allow a magistrate to send young offenders to a remote, approved property where they can work the land and learn to become better members of society.

“It’s common sense, really.

“It’s been distressing over the years to see so many young people on the Cape drift because the big party-dominated state governments have abandoned them.

“It’s fantastic that people like Kirsty are doing their bit for strong communities by helping young people grow in body and mind,” Ms Parker said.