Former medical doctor and now CEO of The Rites of Passage Institute, Dr Arne Rubinstein has spent over 30 years facilitating transitions for boys and men. And yesterday, he was announced as Australian Father of the Year 2025 by The Fathering Project and Australian Fathers Day Council.

Maggie chatted with Arne in Season 1 of The Good Enough Dad, so we thought it was timely to revisit their conversation, which explored not only what Arne has learnt from the many thousands of fathers and kids he's worked with over the years, but what he's learnt from his own experience of being a dad to his own two sons. 

Congratulations to Arne and to all the other dads, father figures and workplaces who were honoured at this year’s awards. 

LINKS: To see the full  list of recipients, go to australianfatheringawards.org.au

Arne Rubinstein on Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/arnerubinstein/, https://www.linkedin.com/in/doctorarnerubinstein/ and Rites of Passage https://ritesofpassageinstitute.org/  

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Trent Dalton is a two-time Walkley Award-winning journalist and internationally bestselling author whose work has touched hearts around the world. But behind the accolades lies a childhood marked by immense hardship—substance abuse, domestic violence, parental separation and poverty.

But Trent turned pain into prose. His debut novel, Boy Swallows Universe—a semi-fictionalised take on his childhood—became a literary sensation and later Netflix’s most successful Australian-made series. His 2021 non-fiction work, Love Stories, was adapted for the stage and will tour in late 2025, around the same time his next novel, Gravity Let Me Go, is set for release.

Trent doesn’t shy away from the gritty and uncomfortable, but what sets him apart is his unwavering belief in beauty, love and hope—something he often credits to his wife of 25 years, journalist Fiona Franzmann. They now live in Brisbane with their daughters, Beth and Sylvie.

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Sean Abbott is part of Australia’s cricket team, which means he spends a LOT of his working life away from home.

A standout fast bowler, Sean made his professional debut at just 18 and has gone on to become one of the top performers in Australian cricket. From dominating the domestic scene to helping Australia win the 2023 World Cup, he's faced up to  some of the best batters in the game. And while he’s known for his bowling, he’s no slouch with the bat—once scoring a blistering century in just 41 balls.

But while he’s achieving success in his career he’s also juggling family life with his wife Brier, three-year-old daughter Ella and baby Arlo. And he’s very aware of the sacrifices he and his family are making as he thoughtfully navigates the terrain of being a good-enough dad and a world-class athlete.

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It was three weeks before Tim Curtis met his first-born child, emerging from the jungle to discover his wife had gone into labour early. Tim is a former member of the Special Air Service Regiment or SAS, and was Australia’s first principal advisor to the government of Sierra Leone during their civil war when his son was born. Tim has also served in Afghanistan and Iraq. When he had three children under six, Tim was lead planner of the Afghan parliamentary elections. Balancing family life with such intense environments, Tim has learnt some valuable lessons about fatherhood and resilience.

Find Tim’s new book Building Resilient Kids here: https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781761772078/

Find The Resilience Shield here: https://resilienceshield.com/

Listen to Tim’s podcast the Unforgiven 60 here: https://unforgiving60.podbean.com/

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When many people think of the Fremantle Dockers, one name often comes to mind—Shaun McManus. A cornerstone of the inaugural team in 1995, Shaun went on to play 228 games for the club, co-captain for a time, and became only the second player to reach 200 games in Dockers history.

These days, he’s just as well known for his role behind the microphone as part of Perth’s beloved Nova breakfast show, Nathan, Nat and Shaun. Over his career Shaun and his wife Meegan had four children: three sons, Lachlan 23, Cooper 19, Oliver 17 and their daughter Sunny who’s 14.

Shaun is honest about when he’s stuffed up raising his children but embraces the lessons he’s learnt along the way.

Shaun refers to the Kai-Fella foundation in this interview. Find more about Kai-Fella at their website https://kaifella.com.au/ 

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Professional surfing legends Adrian “Ace” Buchan and Glenn “Micro” Hall join Maggie Dent to reflect on their journeys — not just through waves, but through fatherhood. Adrian, who spent 16 years on the World Surf League tour and twice defeated Kelly Slater, now serves as chair of Surfing Australia. Glenn, a former pro who has become one of the sport’s most respected coaches, shares his experience balancing career and family life.

Together, they explore the parallels between surfing and parenting — resilience, presence, identity — and what the ocean continues to teach them as dads raising the next generation.

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Dr Billy Garvey is an expert in children, working as a specialist in one of the world’s largest tertiary pediatric hospitals, and receiving a Churchill Fellowship. He’s the co-host of the Pop Culture Parenting podcast and author of 10 Things I Wish You Knew About Your Child's Mental Health. But Billy is the first to admit that being a paediatrician doesn’t mean you’ve got parenting down pat.

Listen to Pop Culture Parenting here:https://www.guidinggrowingminds.com/ 

Find Billy’s book 10 Things I Wish You Knew About Your Child's Mental Health here: https://www.penguin.com.au/books/ten-things-i-wish-you-knew-about-your-childs-mental-health-9781761345838 

Follow Billy on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drbillygarvey/ 

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Australians might know Jamie Durie best for his incredible backyard makeovers and landscaping artistry, but Jamie is also a fierce environmentalist, winning an OAM for his services to the environment and Australian design. He’s also a loving dad to Taylor 30, Beau almost 3 and Nash 2. Parenting has changed a lot between the births of his first and last child. Maggie shares some encouraging wisdom about how parents can create attachment regardless of parenting styles and trends.

Find out more about Growing Home with Jamie Durie here: https://www.growinghomewithjamiedurie.com.au

Follow him on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/jamiedurie/

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Cameron Daddo’s career has spanned everything from hosting Perfect Match, to acting and working with directors like David Lynch, to writing books, making music, advocating for mental health and presenting podcasts. He and wife Alison Brahe-Daddo have three adult kids. Cameron reflects on the lessons he’s learnt as his kids grew up, including one critical piece of advice  from his own dad during a moment of crisis.

Listen to Cameron & Ali’s podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-heart-of-it/id1463023422

Check out My Men’s Team here: https://www.mymensteam.org/ 

Find Cameron’s book, Keep It Smooth, here: https://publishing.hardiegrant.com/en-au/books/keep-it-smooth-by-cameron-daddo/9780645869088 

Follow Cameron on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/camerondaddo

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Guy Sebastian’s accolades have only grown since he exploded onto our screens after 2003, winning the first season of Australian Idol. Now he has a swathe of number-one singles and top albums and he sits on the other side of the stage from contestants as a judge on The Voice. Guy is also a dad to two boys. While becoming a parent wasn’t a top priority in the early years of his career, once his family began, parenting quickly became the most important thing in his life - including finding a way to connect with his two very different boys. 

Guy on Insta: https://www.instagram.com/guysebastian/

Guy's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/guysebastian/ 

Guy’s website: https://guysebastian.com/

The Sebastian Foundation: https://thesebastianfoundation.org/

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In his 40s, musician and member of beloved Aussie band The Waifs, Josh Cunningham thought perhaps the ship had sailed and he was not destined to be a father in this lifetime. However, a creative connection with fellow muso Felicity Urquhart soon became a soul connection, and Josh is now a “bonus dad” to Felicity’s two girls. In true country music style, there has been tragedy and hardship along the way, but the ending is all about harmony and family. And Josh seems to have taken to fatherhood (and dollhouse and cake making!) like a natural.

Links:

Maggie mentioned her chat with Mitch Tambo, when talking about becoming a stepdad. You can listen to that here: https://shows.acast.com/the-good-enough-dad-with-maggie-dent/episodes/66cd1db36ef26bb25d2daa10

Maggie also mentioned the episode in which she chatted with fellow Aussie muso/WA son John Butler - you can catch that here: https://shows.acast.com/the-good-enough-dad-with-maggie-dent/episodes/66cd1db36ef26bb25d2daa1e

To see images of the amazing unicorn cake and dollhouse that Josh made for the girls, visit the episode page on Maggie’s website at: https://www.maggiedent.com/blog/s2-ep-2-the-good-enough-dad-with-josh-cunningham/

Stay in touch with Josh & Felicity’s music and news via:

Website: www.felicityandjosh.com

Socials: 

·         Josh Insta: https://www.instagram.com/joshcunninghamofficial

·         Josh Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joshcunninghamofficial

o   Felicity & Josh Insta: https://www.instagram.com/felicityandjosh/

o   Felicity & Josh FB: https://www.facebook.com/felicityandjosh

The Waifs links:

·         The Waifs Website: https://www.thewaifs.com/

·         The Waifs Insta: https://www.instagram.com/thewaifsband/

·         The Waifs FB: https://www.facebook.com/thewaifs

Links to Josh’s Music:

·         Felicity & Josh on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/29TsUV0ZWC6uui8HAmNF21?si=ztOmwpvXQRqNBnjPZGGEBQ

·         The Waifs on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5uKeKhwXi2w5cXdtoSaqjz?si=8ZXUtslZTZ-MLFIVdLhuwQ

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Despite being the ‘most axed man on TV’ Larry Emdur is still winning Logies and celebrating his fourth decade on our screens. He’s been on Family Double Dare, The Price is Right, The Wheel of Fortune, Weekend Sunrise and has even appeared on Dancing with the Stars. These days you’ll see him on Channel Seven quiz show The Chase Australia and The Morning Show. While juggling his many different presenting roles Larry was raising two kids with his wife Sylvie. And although Larry says his career has been uncertain at times, he credits his ability to survive the media beast as something that has taught him and his kids some valuable lessons.  

Follow Larry on Insta @larryemdur

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Maggie Dent is back for Season 2 of her enormously popular podcast The Good Enough Dad. 

Using her famous common sense Maggie will be chatting to dads from all walks of life to show that our kids don’t need perfection, they just need dads who are “good enough.”

Joining her this season are musician Guy Sebastian, podcaster and actor Cameron Daddo, a FIFO Worker, a war veteran, two professional surfers and many more dads.

Follow us now to make sure you don’t miss out!!

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In this final episode for Season One of The Good Enough Dad, Maggie is joined by good friend and leading light in the fatherhood space, Dr Bruce Robinson. Around 10 years ago Bruce founded The Fathering Project, after hearing from dying men that their biggest regret was not being better dads. Bruce himself is a dad and granddad, and he chats to Maggie about the many valuable lessons he’s picked up along the way, including the ones that have had the biggest impact on fathers across Australia. 

LINKS: The Fathering Project https://thefatheringproject.org/ , Bruce’s website https://www.brucerobinson.com.au/  

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For many years, Chadden’s work life consisted of travelling the world doing wild and adventurous things. Think swimming with belugas, sleeping next to volcanic lakes and close encounters with polar bears. He absolutely loved his life as a wildlife director, but when his wife fell pregnant with their second child, he knew it was time to make a big decision. Chadden talks to Maggie about how he ended up back in Australia, and the important process he had to go through to become the dad he wanted to be. 

LINKS: Chadden on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/chaddenhunter/  

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Graham Long served an eclectic flock as the pastor at the Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross for over 14 years before he retired in 2018. The Wayside Chapel was a place where homeless and struggling people found solace, and it’s also where Graham found a reason to keep going after his son James passed away unexpectedly at 30 years of age. Graham talks to Maggie about the wonder of love, and how an unwashed, unkept man reminded him of its power at Graham’s darkest moment. 

LINKS: Graham’s book is called Love over Hate, finding life by the wayside 

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Jeremy Hutchings grew up on a farm and has carried the lessons he learnt there into his own parenting experience. As a business coach and CEO of the Farm Owners Academy Jeremy is often talking to his community about resilience. It’s a trait he believes many kids develop through living and helping on a working farm – but there are also other skills he’s picked up along the way. He chats to Maggie about why he values the farming community so highly, and how it’s impacted the way he’s raised his kids. 

LINKS: The Farm Owners academy on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/farmownersacademy/ and website https://www.farmownersacademy.com/  

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Founder and CEO of Rites of Passage Arne Rubinstein has spent over 20 years helping boys become men – but one of the most important decisions in his own life involved really embracing what it meant to step up as a man. Arne speaks to Maggie about when his family broke apart and why putting his kids first was the only path he could take.  

LINKS: Arne Rubinstein on Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/arnerubinstein/  and Rites of Passage https://ritesofpassageinstitute.org/  

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Sam’s mum worked several jobs to make ends meet when he was a child, they moved a lot, and money was tight. But Sam’s mum always made him feel like he had a say in their future. Sam tells Maggie why this was so important to him, and why he’s imparting it to his daughter today. 

LINKS: Sam Drummond on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/samuelgdrummond/ and Sam’s book can be found at Affirm Press https://affirmpress.com.au/browse/book/Sam-Drummond-Broke-9781922848475/  

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