Meet Your Australians - 2025 NT Young Australian of the Year Nilesh Dilushan. ACM is proud to be media partner for the 2025 Australian of the Year Awards.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00When I arrived to the Northern Territory in my early twenties, I had only two things.
00:06I had a bag of dreams and a luggage of hopes.
00:08The Northern Territory has given me the opportunities to grow.
00:12It has given me the people I call my community.
00:15It has given me the place that I call home.
00:18I believe the best way to feel belong to a place is to participate.
00:23And there is no better way to participate other than volunteering.
00:27When the whole world sought for the pandemic, a group of friends, former and current international
00:33students came together to establish a task force called Kindness Shake.
00:37We have delivered 8,000 meals for more than 800 individuals who are facing financial hardship
00:45due to COVID pandemic.
00:47Today, Kindness Shake is a leading advocacy, peak international student body in the Northern
00:54Territory, working for the advancement of international education.
00:58And I further went on developing another not-for-profit called Road Track Young Professionals, bringing
01:05all the service-minded young leaders together to harness their skills and expertise to give
01:10back to the Territory.
01:12They are all your lawyers, they are your engineers, your accountants, nurses and occupational
01:17therapists and so on.
01:20They all give up their time to add value to the place that we live through community service
01:26projects.
01:27When I arrived to Australia, I was welcome to the Northern Territory.
01:33But today, there are important key reforms that are happening nationally that bring uncertainty
01:40and questions among our international student community.
01:44It brings a question whether Australia is still the most preferred education destination.
01:49This is an opportunity for us to acknowledge and understand the importance of international
01:56education and the values that it brings to this country.
01:59As a former international student and a multicultural youth in the Northern Territory, it is so
02:04important for me to inspire the next generation of young leaders to step up and contribute
02:09to the communities in the ways that they're truly passionate about.
02:14Everything that I've done and everything that I will do in the future is the way I give
02:18back to the place that I live, the Territory.