Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I stand today to speak in praise of our agricultural shows, especially those around my area—from the Wonthaggi and district summer agricultural show to the Foster and District Agricultural Show, which we attended on the weekend, to next Saturday's Warragul and West Gippsland Agricultural Show. President Bruce Pratt and Tonnie Schipper have been contributors for so many years, as have Peter and Dennis at the Foster show, whom we met with, as have Wayne Loughnan and his wife, Rosemary Loughnan, who are president and show secretary at Wonthaggi.

More importantly, each one of these shows is different. Hundreds and hundreds of people attended the Foster show the other day. Of course, my wife, Bronwyn, and I were drawn towards the dogs, especially the sheepdog trials. We had explained to us the intricacies of what the dogs were doing, how they were going about their job, the way they were bred, their attributes and attitudes and their different levels of aggression. Overall, these shows play a really important role within the communities that they serve. They reflect what was, and still is, the agricultural base of my electorate. We will be right behind anything that can be done to enhance the opportunities to foster these agricultural shows and all of the parts that they play.

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