John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, you may have noticed that I have shorter hair than I did last time we were in parliament. This is not from a desire to feel the crisp Canberra weather—although I can assure you that I am feeling it more keenly. While we were away from Canberra, I had my head shaved as part of the World's Greatest Shave. This is the second time I've raised money for the Leukaemia Foundation. The first time was back in 2017. I set out to walk around the electorate, raising money for this charity in the memory of my mentor, Lou Hoad. However, it was given extra significance when one of my staff was diagnosed with an aggressive stage 4 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma a few days into the walk. Brendan has a young family, and the diagnosis was a shock to us all. I'm delighted to say that Brendan has been in full remission for a year now. To celebrate the anniversary of his victorious return to the office, my staff and I shaved off our locks to raise money for the foundation, which provided Brendan and thousands of others with support, care and hope in their darkest hour.

Together, thanks to corporate donations from local companies like Novartis, Bayer and Pfizer, who had a drug listed just last night, and some great support from across the community, we have raised nearly $14,000. This is a fantastic amount of money, and we hope it will go some way to helping the Leukaemia Foundation to continue their good work. (Time expired)