John McVeigh (Groom, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to share recent highlights of the dynamic communities of Toowoomba and the Darling Downs that make up the Groom electorate. Last Sunday, many of us gathered to enjoy a day out at the Toowoomba Rugby League grand final in the John 'Cracker' McDonald room at the Clive Berghofer Stadium at the Toowoomba sports ground. The Dalby Diehards claimed their first ever Toowoomba Rugby League A grade premiership, with a significant 48-4 win over the Pittsworth Danes. The day before, in the very same place, the Darling Downs Rugby Union grand final was played for the Risdon Cup. On that day, the Dalby Wheatmen produced a surprise result by defeating the Goondiwindi Emus 19-12, and we would need to check on the member for Maranoa's allegiance in relation to those two teams! This weekend coming we will see our AFL grand final between University and Goondiwindi.

While Pittsworth went down in the league final, they enjoyed a magnificent weekend of action with the 20th annual Pittsworth Sprints. We saw more than 200 cars of all sizes, types and conditions compete in this cordoned-off event in the Pittsworth industrial estate. I had the very great honour of waving off the first competitors. It was fantastic fun with fantastic crowds at a well-managed, safety-conscious event run by tremendous volunteers from throughout the Pittsworth community. The Scoot Mason Annual Tractor Pull—more like drag tractors than anything else, I suspect—was held at Biddeston, much to the enjoyment of people who enjoy those sorts of activities.

The 40th annual general meeting for the Darling Downs auxiliary of the Royal Flying Doctor Service and numerous other events in our community made for a very busy weekend indeed. Of course, as we all know, it was Father's Day on Sunday as well.

Next week will see the commencement of the 68th annual Carnival of Flowers in Toowoomba, which has grown in significance over the decades to become a premier community celebration and tourist attraction for international and national visitors, and it has won numerous state and national awards during those years. I look forward to reporting on its success in the near future. As an unashamed parochial Toowoomba-ite, I can assure all present that this Carnival of Flowers is far better than Canberra's Floriade, which is only 30 years old. This event was started 68 years ago by the Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce—small business stepping up to arrange celebrations in our community, small business that remains the heart of regional communities such as ours.

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