Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Saturday night I had the pleasure to act as auctioneer for the Townsville Hospital Foundation. Justice Stuart Durward is a judge of the District Court of Queensland and the chair of the Townsville Hospital Foundation, and he lifted all restraining orders against me for the evening. Dr Robert Tam is a heart specialist in Townsville, and he spoke beautifully about the need for resources for the Townsville Hospital. He also did a portrait of Alan Border. Terry and Annette Walters have been doing this work for a fair while. Johnny Mac has had his own bout with cancer, and his work has been relentless—he has no voice left. He spoke about his battle with cancer and he said he was okay because he had spent some time with a two-year-old who was dying of leukaemia, and she had a smile on her face, so he said what he had was absolutely nothing.

IGA franchisees from all over Australia were there. There was the cast from the local production of Hairspray, including my friend Vicky Saylor, who helped us with the music. We raised $141,000 on the night, with over 700 people packing a marquee at Jupiters in Townsville. Steve Price, a local radio dignitary, was the MC. The prizes were donated by local donors, including Universal Mitre 10 hardware, the mighty North Queensland Cowboys, who had every player donate their Women in League jersey, Jewellery by Design and many more. As an auctioneer, you are only ever as good as the people in front of you, and there is no better crowd than the people of Townsville. I thank them all for the work they did.