I am Senator Malcolm Roberts and welcome to Our Nation Today.

Senator Malcolm Roberts speaks with Jacintha Geia. Jacintha an Indigenous woman, born in Rockhampton and raised in Townsville in a family of seven siblings. Home life was not always nurturing, and she often moved to live in other remote communities throughout Queensland. Jacintha visited Malcolm in Canberra last year and was impressed with her strong belief in self-responsibility and determination, not only for herself, but also for her people.

Jacintha is a proud mother to three daughters, and she is deeply committed to supporting her children be able to move successfully in both worlds and reminds them every day that they make their own futures.

Jacintha’s childhood was far from ideal, so she knows first-hand the attitudes and determination required to make your own successful future. She has faced the demons of alcoholism, drug addiction, welfare dependency, homelessness, domestic violence, childhood poverty and trauma, and if that wasn’t enough, suicidal tendencies and sole parenting.

Still only 33 years old, and in the face of so many setbacks, she has been steadfast in her commitment to breaking the cycle of despair and dysfunction in her life.

The realisation that the oppressor in her life was not the white man, which is so often the default excuse, rather the oppressor was only herself. That realisation literally set her free from victimhood and onto a new path for her and her family. Jacintha has recently graduated from a Diploma in Government and has a Certificate 5 in Performing Arts and Procurement and Contracting.