There have been tributes from across Australia for Catholic priest and passionate youth advocate Father Chris Riley, who has died aged 70.
Riley founded Youth Off The Streets in 1991 after turning a single food van in Kings Cross in inner-Sydney into a lifesaving network of crisis accommodation, counselling and other wrap-around support services.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese remembered him as a “good friend” with “a heart as big as the country”.
NSW Premier Chris Minns paid tribute to Riley’s “visionary” work that changed the lives of thousands of young people across the state.
“Father Riley believed there is no child born bad, only circumstances to overcome, and he spent over three decades proving that with compassion and opportunity, young lives can be transformed,” he said.
Riley was the organisation’s chief executive for three decades and had the ear of several prime ministers, including Julia Gillard, and prominent movie stars such as Eric Bana, who lent their support as ambassadors to Youth Off the Streets.
The group has grown to a staff of more than 200 across NSW and Queensland.
About half of all homeless people in NSW are under the age of 24.
More than 17,000 young people were helped by specialist homelessness services in the state in 2023-2024.
Riley was NSW’s nomination for Australian of the Year in 2012, when the title was won by Oscar-winning actor Geoffrey Rush.
He also courted controversy in 2011 after getting involved in a gaming industry campaign against poker machine reforms that would have set bet limits.
Riley at the time argued education and counselling, not legislation, was a better way to help problem gamblers.
Youth Off the Streets said he had battled a long period of ill-health.
-AAP
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