After walking more than 500km through the bush communities he's looking to serve, 12-year-old Dusty heard the very news he'd been hoping for.
Dusty Langby from Warren, in central western NSW, walked to Canberra to raise money for children's charity Little Wings, which provides medical support to sick children and their families.
Sixteen days and 540km after starting, Dusty Langby finally set his sights on Parliament House and a long-awaited meeting with the prime minister.
The campaign raised $530,000 but was still well short of the lofty million-dollar goal that Dusty had set himself.
Then on his arrival, Anthony Albanese, alongside Health Minister Mark Butler, pledged to match every dollar Dusty has raised, along with announcing a two-year extension on a funding agreement for Little Wings.
The money will be used to fund clinics where a city-based specialist flies one day a month to a regional town to run appointments.
Waitlists in regional towns to see a pediatrician can be up to six years.
Dusty and his family first came into contact with Little Wings when they needed to be flown to Sydney to see specialists assisting with his younger brother's health challenges.
"The bush should get the same care that city kids can," Dusty said of what inspired his journey.
"Little Wings is a lifeline for the bush people," mum Sarah Langby said, who joined Dusty on the journey.
"Dusty, being 12 years old, I'm just so super proud of my son."
The Dollar for Dusty campaign is the charity's greatest ever fund-raising effort.
"Little Wings is an organisation that's run on community by community, and we're so proud to have that model," chief executive Clare Pearson said.
"We're 90 per cent volunteer-led, all our pilots ... it's people like Dusty and the crew and the community that have come on board to help us fuel those planes."
His arrival on Monday afternoon was accompanied by a marching band, the Little Wings and St George Mascots, gifts of signed NSW Blues and Canberra Raiders jerseys, and young kids with posters celebrating their idol.
Parkes MP Jamie Chaffey said Dusty was a "man in a boy's body".
"Plenty of people have concerns and have issues in the community, but not that many people actually stand up and do something about it, and that's what this young man has done at 12 years of age, and I'm proud of him," the Nationals politician said.
There are dreams of becoming a Little Wings pilot himself one day, but right now Dusty is excited for a celebratory camping trip with family.
He'll get back to some well-earned country fun by the river, fishing and riding motorbikes.
