Kindness educator Kath Koschel named NSW Australian of the Year

The founder of a global non-profit organisation that teaches children about the power of kindness has been named the NSW Australian of the Year.

Kath Koschel from Cronulla in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire started The Kindness Factory in 2015 and it now operates in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The organisation’s curriculum is taught in 3,500 schools in Australia, has been downloaded over 60,000 times globally, and is credited with inspiring 7.5 million acts of kindness.

Ms Koschel experienced the healing power of kindness when she suffered serious injuries and personal tragedy.

When she was 23 years old, Ms Koschel broke her back and was told she would never walk again.

She found love during her 12-month stint in rehab with a fellow patient. Tragically she lost him to suicide just before he was due to be released.

Five years after breaking her back, she was hit by a car which forced her to learn to walk again a second time.

Ms Koschel said kindness was the single most powerful thing she received while she was at rock bottom.

She recalls waiting for an elevator in a wheelchair during her second stint in hospital, when a stranger walking past noticed her struggling to reach the call button and briefly stopped and pressed it for her.

“I realised he had done that for me without wanting recognition,” Ms Koschel said.

“It changed the course of my entire life. I got downstairs, looked at myself in the mirror and I said, ‘You’re going to walk again’.”

“That’s what kindness does to you, it starts with something small, it has a ripple effect.”

That was one of the many small offerings of help that prompted her to set up The Kindness Factory as a way of paying it forward.

The other nominees for NSW Australian of the Year were police officer Amy Scott, who shot dead the man who fatally stabbed six people at Bondi Junction in April, as well as youth advocate Daniel Principe and gender-based violence campaigner Jess Hill.

ABC’s Dr Karl honoured

Science communicator Karl Kruszelnicki was awarded NSW Senior Australian of the Year.

The 76-year-old known as Dr Karl has been helping Australians understand scientific concepts since 1981, when he offered to talk about the Space Shuttle launch on ABC radio station Triple J.

Dr Karl still has a weekly science segment on Triple J and regularly appears on radio and TV.

The co-founder of a charity that helps victims of homicide, Martha Jabour, was awarded NSW Local Hero for NSW.

Ms Jabour founded the Homicide Victims Support Group in 1993, which has helped 4,200 members through counselling and referrals.

Among those helped include the overseas families of the victims of the Bondi Junction stabbing attack earlier this year, who were given accommodation, counselling and funeral assistance at the group’s facility in Western Sydney.

“When children and families are affected by homicide, we can look after them in a place filled with love,” Ms Jabour said.

NSW Young Australian of the Year went to Maddison O’Gradey-Lee, a mental health researcher and advocate.

Ms O’Gradey-Lee co-founded the Orygen Global Youth Mental Health Fellowship to support mental health advocates.

Since being set up in 2020, the fellowship has trained 76 youth advocates in 42 countries in lived experience advocacy and peer support.

Premier Chris Minns thanked those named NSW Australians of the Year for their “extraordinary contribution to our state and nation”.

“These are people that help others, overcome challenges, aim for excellence, and represent the very best of what it means to be Australian.”