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Olympian efforts for workers

WHEN the former Olympic chief Juan Antonio Samaranch declared Sydney's 2000 Games the "best ever", the TV cameras cut to the grins on the faces of organising committee bigwigs. But watching at home in his western Sydney living room, one of the unsung champions of the Olympics also had a contented smile reports Andrew West on Les Tobler in the Sydney Morning Herald Australian Day honours January 26-27 2008.

Les Tobler, who has been recognised with a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his efforts as, a union official and campaigner against drug and alcohol abuse, was lead organiser for the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union at the main Olympic site at Home-bush Bay. His work there in the late 1990s ensured that the biggest peacetime building operation in Australia went smoothly.
The stadium and facilities were built on time and without a day lost to strikes. "We delivered for Australia and Fm proud of that," Mr Tobler said.
But the 68-year-old indigenous Australian - a Ku Ku Yalanji man who came off a mission station near Babinda in the far north and spent only four years at school - is most proud of his 1989 achievement in helping to set up a program to combat drug and alcohol abuse among workers in the NSW construction industry."I had seen the drink and drugs destroy our people, then I saw it happening in the workplaces," he said.
His efforts led to the establishment of Foundation House, an eight-bed centre at Rozelle Hospital that has treated 150 patients a year for the past seven years. Another of his programs led to the employment of hundreds of young Aboriginal men and women as building apprentices.
That work continues for the semi-retired father of nine, including two adopted children, and grandfather of nine. He still serves his community as a member of the Redfern Waterloo Authority's employment committee, where securing good jobs for indigenous youth remains his mission.

Photo: courtesy the Tobler family - A proud man ... Les Tobler's crews "delivered for Australia", and so did he.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald Australian Day honours January 26-27 2008