Victorian man rides lawn mower for 800km to speak to the PM
You know the saying: mow big or mow home. And one man risked it all in hopes of scoring a meeting with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
In an incredible 11-day journey Warren "Woz" Acott made the 800km journey from Central Victoria to Canberra to try and speak with the Prime Minister about motor neurone disease (MND).
He left his home in Toolleen in Central Victoria on March 11, with no guarantee that anyone was going to meet him at the end of his journey. But his efforts have been fruitful, because by the time he arrived in Canberra this morning, he had a booking with the PM.
"I've shuffled my schedule around to fit him in. I'd better go see him," Woz joked when he was told he had a meeting with the PM
Albanese met met Woz in the Prime Minister's courtyard, and a crowd of families affected by MND were also waiting outside parliament to welcome Woz.
"I'm overwhelmed. But it's not about me. It's about MND and the families and the carers and everybody else," Woz told A Current Affair.
Woz, who lives with MND, wants the condition to be added to the National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (NNDSS).
This is because NNDSS conditions "a threat to public health in Australia" and are given additional funding for research."
"We'll give consideration to all these things. You're a champion, mate," Albanese said.
"It's all over my head. I mean, I'm a truck driver at the end of the day. But I know that if (MND is added to the NNDSS), it's more trackable, more funding, and everything else," Woz said.
Robyn Sneddon, who lost her husband Ian to MND, praised Woz for his effort.
"The effort he has made has been incredible. He is just a champion," she told A Current Affair.
"I'm very proud of him," Snedden added.
Images: A Current Affair