Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this afternoon to laud the excellent example and good work of a leading citizen on the Gold Coast—that is, Mr Patrick Corrigan AM, a philanthropist who has certainly created a benchmark when it comes to providing donations and philanthropy to the Gold Coast City and, importantly, the Gold Coast City Art Gallery. In particular, I would like to highlight that Mr Corrigan recently donated 12 artworks, together with Annie Hogan photographs, which takes the total of his donations in artworks to the Gold Coast City Art Gallery over the past two years to over $1 million. When one takes into account the other donations that Mr Corrigan has solicited from various people around Australia to the benefit of our city, the total value is in excess of $2 million.

I would like to put on the record today my admiration for the example that Mr Corrigan provides to others in the community—certainly to those who have the finance and are in a position to afford such generosity—to make sure that they make a difference in the community. Mr Corrigan is someone whom I regard as a friend, someone I have seen many times on the Gold Coast over the years and someone for whom I have much regard and much time, especially when it comes to matters dealing with the Gold Coast City Art Gallery. The fact that Mr Corrigan is willing to put his money where his mouth is is simply testament to the kind of man that he is.

With respect to the philanthropy that Mr Corrigan has displayed, it is interesting to note that the first time I met Mr Corrigan he provided me with a business card which simply said ‘Mr Pat Corrigan AM’, and underneath that it said ‘Professional beggar’. I was interested to query him as to exactly what the term ‘professional beggar’ had reference to. He explained his ongoing advocacy of trying to solicit artworks, be they photographs, oils or canvas paintings, for the Gold Coast City Art Gallery.

It is a relatively small art gallery when one considers that Gold Coast City is the sixth-largest city in the country. Notwithstanding that, what we lack in size we certainly make up for in substance. It is directly because of the ongoing and tireless work of people such as Mr Patrick Corrigan that our city can have an art gallery we can be truly proud of and can provide access to art works and photographs unable to be provided within the limited budget of our city’s regional art gallery. In highlighting the great track record that Mr Patrick Corrigan has and his example of philanthropy not only to the Gold Coast community but to communities across Australia, on behalf of the community, I say thank you to Mr Patrick Corrigan and thank you to those who have contributed over $2 million as a result of his requests.