Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It gives me great pressure to stand on the floor of the parliament and offer into Hansard eight names of people who have made incredible contributions to our community and who are deserving of the accolades that I wish to bestow upon them: Anne Hoitink, John Brent, Melanie Bryson, Craig Wass, Katherine Raymont, Neil Goetsch, James Geiger and Ian Harrison.

As to those names, common Australians would not have a clue as to who those people were, but they are the show presidents for the shows coming up in their respective communities, and they do an incredible job. Some of those whose names I've mentioned have been involved with their show societies for over 30 years; some of them are new; but they're all equally worthy of affirmation, and we should heap praise upon them. They don't do it for money; they're all volunteers who give their time.

You can tell a lot about a community by the way that the local show is conducted and by the way that the schools engage, with either their photography or their painting or their writing. You can tell a lot about the community: from those old stagers, the recidivist entrants in the fruitcake competition—which is fiercely held!—to the farmers who will put bales of hay, barley and corn, their produce, proudly on display. I never tire of the fruit and vegetable displays at the myriad of shows across the length and breadth of my electorate.

I don't mind sharing with the room that there was even an engineering prize at the Mudgeeraba show that was won by a member of this House, for a handbag that could be turned into a jacket. I think that you, Madam Deputy Speaker Andrews, would well know who the winner of that prize was!

There's the craftwork put on by the craft associations, whether it be the quilting, or the bears that they sew which end up at the hospital auxiliary afterwards. There are the cattlemen who pick out the best of their lines of cattle to send to the show, and the local stock and station agents who forgo their commission to put on a cattlemen's dinner so that the community can come together and share a meal and a few drinks the night before, to celebrate who has the best cattle in the district. There are the men's sheds who participate, with the amazing work that they do.

It's good that we should celebrate our regional and rural shows. It's good that we acknowledge the amazing work done by volunteers in this space.