Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A bull rider I ain't, and anybody who saw the end of Insiders yesterday would have noted, with some humour and mirth, the fact that I couldn't stay on one of those electronic bulls for longer than a mere few seconds. But I raise this point because the bull riding was in vogue at the Parkes show, and the shows are back in town. It's so good, when you go across the countryside, across regional Australia, to see the agricultural shows back in force.

Recently I visited the Trundle show. What a fantastic event that was. They had dog trials and dog jumping. It was so good to see people getting out and about once more, enjoying the shows for what they are. There were poultry exhibitions. There were schoolchildren doing their best colouring-in and winning, potentially, certificates and the like. There was cooking. Flo's pumpkin scones have got nothing on some of the show exhibits that people go to so much trouble to bake and make! Indeed, it is good just to be getting together after two years of COVID, when our country shows weren't able to be held. Pleasingly, in that time the former government put together a package of $52.9 million to support shows, and many of our country shows put in place the infrastructure that is going to benefit their show communities for decades to come. This is so important.

I visited the Parkes show. I visited the Ganmain show. These country shows are what make some of these little towns—and not so little towns; we've got the Wagga Wagga show coming up—really vibrant and happening places. I mentioned the grants and the infrastructure. Lockhart received $75,360 to upgrade their livestock sheds and construct a ticketing booth. Those ticketing booths are staffed by people who have, in some cases, been there for decades. It's their place in that community. They turn up, they sell the tickets, they hand out the tickets, they man the gates, and it's so important.

At Ardlethan they refurbished their kitchen with a $46,000 grant. Bedgerabong had $70,000 to upgrade their watering system. Cowra had $67,000 for new air conditioning and solar panels. Illabo had $118,000 to upgrade their pavilion kitchen. All of these things have made these little community shows what they're going to be in the future, and they're loving it. I look forward to going back to Parkes and, hopefully, staying on the electronic bull for longer than three or four seconds, and I look forward to getting to as many shows as I can.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And I do hope the member for Riverina—

Honourable members in terjecting—

I was trying to make a comment to the member for Riverina. I do hope you have fully recovered from that—albeit brief—effort on the mechanical bull.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Deputy Speaker.