Brett Raguse (Forde, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to speak today on something that certainly grieves me, my electorate and many other members: the lack of opportunity for the community to be recognised for some of their contributions. Whether it is in the media or other forms, this recognition is very important. Many members take the opportunities in this House to formally recognise people who have contributed to their communities. Tonight I want to do that.

There were four significant events in my electorate during the week. I have already spoken about one today. There were 10 winners in the inaugural youth lecture series. The local community bank recognised the talent of some of our young people and gave them awards.

There are three other events I would like to mention. It has become quite customary in the seat of Forde to hold a number of annual award ceremonies, and Queensland this year celebrated its 150th anniversary. On 6 June 1869, Queen Victoria signed the letters patent that formed the colony of Queensland, and Queenslanders generally celebrate around that date. But this year was a whole year of celebration, including the 150th anniversary award ceremonies that were held.

So this week, although it was a little bit later in the year than usual, I held my Forde Queensland Day Awards. I would like to recognise the recipients of those awards very briefly, under a number of categories. I will start with the final and major award, our Forde Queenslander of the Year, which was given to John Robinson, who this year took the award for being a significant contributor to the community—and I will talk about John a little bit more in the context of some work that he was doing in the electorate. Our Forde Young Queenslander of the Year award went to Katie Johnston, a high-school captain who is also heavily involved in a junior chamber of commerce, doing a lot of work with people in the community. There were four awards under the Queensland Community Group category: the Lamington Natural History Association, the Beenleigh CWA, Vitae Ltd and Quota International of Beenleigh. Our Indigenous and multicultural awards went to Isabel Tarrago and Lucretia Suciu respectively. There were three winners under our community spirit award: Stacey Ross, Denis Rowlands and Donna Merriman. Our Forde Greats awards went to Max Noble and Roger Bell, and our Forde Community Recognition Award went to Paul Cowan. So that was one event.

Later in the week we celebrated a major event that has been driven by the community radio station in Beaudesert, Beau FM, who have over the years provided community radio services to the region. They set out to encourage young people into the music industry in terms of songwriting and production and all the other aspects of performing arts. This week they had their Scenic Music awards ceremony and a whole lot of public events. John Robinson, who I mentioned was our Forde Queenslander of the Year, was one of the key people in making the award ceremony happen. So I would like to again recognise John Robinson, and Michael Bassett, who is part of that organisation, and also the Scenic Rim Regional Council, who supported those awards. I will very briefly mention those award winners: Bernie Carson from Harrisville, Left of Center from Beaudesert, Kirk Lorange from Mount Tamborine, Jade Mellor from Beaudesert, Jackie McDonald from Beechmont, Tracey Davis and the Bushfire Band from Canungra, and the Beaudesert Country and Horse Festival. So that was another significant event.

The final event I would like to mention was on the Friday night before that. I have previously mentioned in this chamber an invitation I received some months ago, which I think started out as a bit of a joke but became quite serious: I was honoured to be asked to be a guest performer at the Voices from Heaven concert which was held at St John’s Cathedral last Friday night. About a year ago, the Cantabile Choir, a renowned choir from Canterbury College—in fact, they won the gold medal at the 2008 World Choir Games in Austria—asked if I would at some stage sing with them and as a bit of a joke I said yes. Very recently it appeared on a program that I was one of the guest performers at the Voices from Heaven concert, singing with two well-known opera divas. It was one of the most challenging events of my life. It was certainly very similar to the feeling when we make our first speech in this House. It was a great night, a great event, and everyone tells me I should ditch the karaoke and go operatic! But I think I am going to hang up the sheet music. It was wonderful singing with the girls, and I want to recognise those very, very well-known opera stars Mia Daoud and Katie Stenzel, and Ritornello, the string orchestra that performed that night, directed by Belinda Williams.

Very quickly, in the time I have left, I do want to mention the girls who are part of Cantabile Choir. They do community fundraising, and at every performance they are exceptional in what they do. I was very honoured that they actually wanted me to sing a song with them. The director was Susan Gouchee and the choreographer Andrea Cooke. The accompanists were Yvonne Teo, Susan Gouchee and Norma Marschke. I will very quickly run through the girls: Natalie Renouf, Kelsey Martin, Jessica Bell, Kelsey McAlpine, Stacey Anderson, Monique Bowdler, Breanna Gerritson, Shannon Saunders, Clare Fotinos, Marina York, Ronja Markham, Natasha Hendey, Melanie Shulze, Lauren Steiner, Georgia Bell, Georgia Richardson, Jessica Taylor, Samantha Joyce, Emily Jones, Corinne McCulloch, Emma Simpson, Nicola Tedman, Tryphena Hunter, Ebony Rose and Kristie Chadwick.

On the evening of this event these girls, who started performing at seven o’clock at night and supported all of the guest artists through the night, probably sang for 2½ or three hours. The range of songs, their expertise and their professionalism—these are high school students who have now not only walked the world stage but become winners of the 2008 World Choir Games—were just sensational. I was very humbled by the experience. As I said earlier, for me to have the opportunity—as you know, I am a bit of a hack singer—to sing with these girls was quite an amazing event.

To come back to the initial grievance about the way that we publicly recognise people, we as members all get around our electorates and see so many amazing people and the community events that they are involved in. I would like to encourage the media to, where possible, be more understanding of the level and depth of what some of our community members are involved in. I would like to give recognition to all of these people tonight. There were four major events in the electorate in the previous week. The wonderful thing of course is that, through the involvement of other community organisations and me as a federal member, recognition ultimately comes to people who do such a wonderful job.

While Queensland celebrated its 150 years, the organisations and the people who are a part of all of these events this year are certainly proud Queenslanders. Their work with the community is well known and getting better known. For me as the member, the opportunity to get up here and speak about their successes and the sort of work they are doing for the community is very important.

In closing, the Canterbury College Cantabile Choir is an exceptional group, as is the Beau FM community radio station and their work towards community through music and performing arts. We know about the Gympie Muster and a whole range of other musical events. I think the Beaudesert Bash might become the location for a music event. The efforts of the young performers within our community are amazing to see. I recognise those other community organisations that I have mentioned tonight. It is important that we as members of parliament recognise them. Again, my concern is that our community groups do not get the sort of recognition that they deserve. It is important on every occasion, as I know members do, to come into this chamber and speak about and highlight the people who do so many wonderful things in our community.