Michael Johnson (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have received a letter which says:

Dear Michael

Ryan Rocks Competition 2009 was fantastic! My son Matthew played rhythm guitar in the band Kreedhorse. It was the most valuable experience he could have for a 12 year old boy learning guitar. The judges were very impressive and certainly had a hard job. Thank you for the opportunity you have provided for young musicians to experience live performances and competitions. I feel it was a huge success and hope that it continues into the future.

That was from a constituent of mine who I am very proud to say in the parliament was in her remarks very impressed with and very generous about the Ryan Rocks initiative which had its inaugural show last Friday, 23 October at St Peter Chanel Catholic Primary School in The Gap, which is in the Ryan electorate. I want to take this opportunity in the parliament to thank all those young musicians in the Ryan electorate who participated in Ryan Rocks 2009. Ryan Rocks is an initiative, as I said, that I came up with to try to bring young musicians from schools across the western suburbs in the Ryan electorate together and perform in a competitive yet still very friendly and fraternal atmosphere. It brought together primary school students as well as high school students. I can say very proudly that the performances of those young musicians were certainly inspiring.

I want to acknowledge them, as well as the judges and sponsors, here in the House of Representatives as the federal member for Ryan and, indeed, as a very impressed member of the audience. First of all, I congratulate the overall winner, a group called WheeleR. They played a rock piece. I must confess I am not a connoisseur of rock music, but I certainly understand from the judges, as it was a unanimous decision, that it was a very impressive piece. These young students are brothers. Their parents were in the audience and they were very proud parents indeed. To the Wheeler brothers: thank you very much for being part of this Ryan Rocks initiative and congratulations on your success. Winning the classical section was Daniel Tagiev, winning the solo section was Stephanie Burgin and winning the covers section was JayCee Squared. The overall winner out of those four sections was WheeleR, who also won the band-originals section.

A local competition such as this does not take place without the very generous support of community organisations and businesses and members of the community. First of all, let me thank Inspector Joe Joyce of the Queensland Police Service who is in charge of the northern suburbs, including The Gap, in the Ryan electorate. He very generously agreed to be MC, so I thank him very publicly for his contribution to the evening and for making sure it was a very successful evening. Sponsors were Kid Rock Productions, Forte School of Music, Billy Hyde Music and Sonnic Beat Sound Lighting and Productions. Thank you very much to all of them for their contributions. In particular, I thank the Forte School of Music, a local business that tries to reach out into the talents of the young people. I publicly and very generously thank the new Managing Director of the Forte School of Music, David Doherty, for his generous support. He very kindly offered a $200 gift voucher to each section winner. Daniel Tagiev, Stephanie Burgin, JayCee Squared and WheeleR each received a $200 gift voucher proudly donated by the Forte School of Music.

To all the young people who participated: thank you very much again for your talents. I do not think that in our community, in our society and indeed in our world the power of music is fully appreciated. I still do not think that the power of music to connect people, to connect communities and to connect the disengaged is appreciated. I, for one, feel very remiss that I do not have a musical bone in my body. but my little three-year-old son Ryan, who is the light of my life, tinkers on our little second-hand piano at our home and I hope very much that he is blessed with the rewards and success of enjoying music. As I said, music has so much capacity to bring people and communities together. I hope that our society and our community—and, in my case, as the federal member for Ryan—can use music to bring people together, to bring schools together and to bring the young musicians of the Ryan electorate together. ((Time expired)