2026 Young Australian of the Year Nedd Brockmann

Australian Community Media

As a then 23-year-old electrician from Forbes, Nedd Brockmann had a goal – to run across Australia and inspire people to do more for themselves and the homeless. Nedd’s concern for homelessness was sparked by his journey into TAFE every week where he saw too many people sleeping rough on Sydney's Eddy Avenue. He wanted to do something to highlight homelessness, its complexities and prove that it's solvable.

Transcript

00:01I've learnt a lot about homelessness. It's extremely complex.

00:04I used to just think homelessness was those people sitting on the street.

00:07And it's just not. That's the 5%.

00:1195% of homelessness is those we don't see.

00:14It's hidden homelessness and there's categories of that.

00:17But once you kind of open up this gigantic issue,

00:20you then go, oh, we need to start really doubling down.

00:24I think I just took action.

00:26I think it was a matter of, well, we can always sit back

00:29and play out the best scenario of how we're going to make this work.

00:34But I think the worst thing you can do is the inaction around these issues.

00:38The first kind of fundraising event I did was the 50 marathons in 50 days in 2020

00:43while working full time as an electrician.

00:45And we raised around $93,000.

00:472022, I dreamt up the idea of running across Australia

00:51in the hope to break the record of 40 days, 43 days, sorry.

00:55And through trials and tribulations and all sorts of injuries and weather,

01:01you name it, we had it.

01:02We got to Bondi in 46 days.

01:04So I didn't necessarily break the record,

01:06but I raised a lot more money than I thought even possible in $2.6 million.

01:11And I had a million was the goal.

01:13I wanted to do a similar thing.

01:15So I ran 1,000 miles around a track pursuing the 1,000 mile world record.

01:20And off the back of the 1,000 mile, I wanted to launch what is now called

01:24Ned's Uncomfortable Challenge.

01:25So getting people to do their own 10 day challenge

01:27and know that the money is going to help those experiencing homelessness.

01:32So I'm very proud of the Uncomfortable Challenge.

01:34Of all the things I've done, I would absolutely say

01:36the Uncomfortable Challenge I've set up for everyone else

01:38is 20 times cooler than any run event I've ever done.

01:43It feels 1,000 times better to give than take.

01:46And I truly, truly believe that.

01:48How much do we need?

01:50You know, how much do we actually truly need?

01:52If you open up your heart and have a bit of compassion,

01:55and that is the beautiful thing about this country.

01:58We had 37,000 people donated to my first run across this country.

02:01And then we had 20,000 people partake in the Uncomfortable Challenge.

02:04So there's a lot of people opening their heart.

02:06No one chooses to be homeless and no one deserves to be either.

02:10And I truly believe that.

02:11No one, not a single human being would choose to be on the street.

02:14It's actually like deeply rooted in me to make sure this ends.

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