The Governor’s Mother’s Day message

The Governor has recorded a special message to all Western Australians mums and women to mark Mother’s Day.

View the message in the video frame below. 

 

Full transcript:

Raising children is the most important and difficult job in the world.

There are more than 590, 000 thousand children and young people in Western Australia. Each will need approximately 157,000 hours of care and attention to get them to their 18th birthday – to become the young adults and future leaders of our community – but the job doesn’t stop there.

While we live in one of the greatest environments in the world, raising healthy, happy and well-adjusted children is not as easy task. Drugs, alcohol, social media, peer pressure and mental health are just some of the many challenges faced by parents today. And, in many families, the major emotional and physical burden falls on Mum.

Every mum operates in a unique environment with a unique set of challenges, and every child is different.

Mothers’ Day is the one day of the year when we should stop and say thanks to all of the mums and women of Western Australia who contribute to our joy and well-being:

• our stay-at-home mums
• working mums
• single mums
• Indigenous and migrant mums
• same-sex couples and members of the LGBTI community
• younger and older mums
• special-needs mums
• foster parents and grandparents – the list goes on.

 

On Mother’s Day we declare our love and gratitude, but more than just showing our appreciation we need to remember that mums can’t do it alone.

As Governor I am proud to be patron of a number of groups who are out sharing Mum’s burdens and supporting the raising and care of children in Western Australia.

Groups like Ngala, the Women and Infants Research Foundation and The Raine Study, and even organisations like Foodbank, Lifeline and the Salvation Army who are always there for our families. Mother’s Day is a chance to acknowledge these community groups, especially this year when due to the hardships and pressures of COVID-19 many of them are experiencing a significant increase in demand, and at the same time struggling with a loss of traditional support.

If you are in a position to contribute, why not consider supporting these organisations that do so much for the mums and women and children of Western Australia this Mother’s Day.

From all of us at Government House – thank you Mums, we hope your special day increases the appreciation to which you are entitled, so that more often than perhaps in the past – every day is Mother’s Day as well as this special day.

 

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