Mark Furner (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This evening I rise to speak about a matter that I am involved in on a regular basis each year now, and that is raising money for a charitable organisation—the Cancer Council of Queensland Relay for Life. Each year I set targets to meet and this year I am happy to report that I exceeded my target of $25,000 in achieving the highest fundraiser level for the Brisbane Relay for Life 2012.

Relay for Life has its origins in the US, where, in 1985, Dr Gordy Klatt, a colorectal surgeon, spent a gruelling 24 hours running and walking around a local oval. He wanted to raise awareness about cancer and raise money.

From those beginnings Relay for Life events are now held in more than 600 communities across 20 countries. Relay for Life began in Australia in 1999 when the Victorian community of Murrumbeena raised over $75,000 for the Cancer Council. Relay for Life now is run in every state and territory and raises over $14 million each year for the fight against cancer. Each year, many of the donations come through online contributions. I must put on record my appreciation for these members of parliament: Senator Edwards, Senator Moore, Senator Bilyk, Senator Faulkner, Senator Singh, Senator Thistlethwaite, Senator Di Natale, member for Griffith Kevin Rudd, member for Fraser Andrew Leigh and member for Deakin Mike Symons. They are only a few of those who were willing to come forward and assist with raising money to try to rid our communities of this insidious disease.

In addition we organised and commenced our fundraising early in the year. Around February we held an event at Byblos restaurant down at Portside Wharf at Hamilton. We named it the Arabian Nights. The proprietor, Antoine Ghanem, was very considerate in providing subsidy for the meals on the night. The rest of the subsidy went to our team for Cancer Council. Additionally we raised money through raffles and auctions to meet our target of somewhere around $4½ thousand for that particular event.

The other event was in June at Mount Gravatt, and the Bakhoun Charitable Society of Brisbane was the main group involved in that. I must put on record my appreciation of the Obeid family, which was instrumental in preparing that fundraising event and bringing along beautiful trays and items of Lebanese food. In all, everyone had an enjoyable afternoon and once again raised considerable thousands of dollars towards our team for the Cancer Council.

The last event was a couple of weeks prior to the Brisbane Relay for Life in November. This was held in October at the Club Pine Rivers and was in the sense of a sportsman lunch. We had Tonie Carroll, ex-Bronco, and Paralympian gold medallist swimmer Brenden Hall come along and speak about their endeavours and goals in how they achieve. In all we again raised somewhere around $4½ thousand to $5 thousand, which went toward our total of over $25,000.

In addition to that we ran a raffle called the Where's Wally Ball Raffle. It was an NRL football. Those who understand the NRL would get this. It was signed by the king, Wally Lewis. Some would not know who King Wally Lewis is, but he is legendary in Queensland. I must say getting the signature on that ball was a credit to Petrina Zaphir, who is a close friend and journalist for Channel 9 on the Gold Coast. She has been a marvellous supporter for our team over several years. I must congratulate and thank everyone in this house as well because they are the main supporters behind the raffle. Some of the senators here in the room this evening assisted in making that possible. The ball was won by Tim Woltmann, who I understand works for Mr Ripoll's office and is a Queenslander as well. I once again thank everyone who supported the fundraising for the Where's Wally Ball Raffle, which helped us reach our target.

In addition I would like to thank some ongoing regular people who have donated on a recurring basis each year. I start with my good friend Terri Irwin from Australia Zoo. There are also Clubs Queensland; Ron, Wayne, Rocket and Peter from Club Pine Rivers; Karen Barfoot from Bristol-Myers Squibb; Russ Furner, my brother; Russell Thirgood; Shan Jiu Lin; Evan Jones; and Ivan Fuflygin and Irina Kislyakova, who both made considerable donations towards us getting over and reaching our target, so I thank them so much. Once again Petrina Zaphir brought to us many vouchers used in the raffles. Those vouchers came from the Sheraton Mirage, Warner Bros., Hilton Surfers Paradise, Bunning's and Dan Murphy's and were no doubt excellent prizes for the raffles we ran in all those fundraising events.

Ongoing support from regular donors who have assisted us over the many years that I have been involved in raising money for the Cancer Council through Relay for Life includes organisations and companies such as Metcash Distribution, Peter Finn from Lion Dairy and Drinks, Transport Workers Union Queensland Branch, Campbell's Wholesale, Kerry Ingredients, Kathy Doolan, Brad Newman, Super Retail Group, David Smith from the ASU National Office, Alana Smith, Vicki Thomas, Gail Ker from Access Community Services and Anthony Torbey, the Honorary Consul of Lebanon in Brisbane. It is great to have their support on a regular basis this year, as we generally do on each occasion.

We call ourselves a team name, and this year we called ourselves the Senate Stars, so we came along to celebrate. This is what Relay for Life is all about. You do the hard yards fundraising and then on the night have a bit of fun. So we dressed up as stars—some came along as rock stars, some came along as movie stars. I turned up in a commando outfit from the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie—I even put the jungle green on my face—and had a bit of fun with everyone else. There were a Marilyn Monroe and others there. The team consisted of me as the captain and also this year having the privilege of being patron of Brisbane Relay for Life; you, Acting Deputy President Moore; Christine Stubbs; Terry Kent; Adam Obeid; Abdul and Mona Obeid; Sharon Stocker and her family; Russell Vieritz; Leah Olsson and her children, Nicholas Maguire and Emma Maguire; Petrina Zaphir; and Vicki James, who works for the Cancer Council on the Gold Coast as a major fundraising manager down there and who is always a great asset to have come along and assist on the night. We also had a couple of candidates: Michael Gilliver, the candidate for Dickson; and Fiona McNamara, the candidate and next member for Brisbane. They came along and participated on the night.

In general, this year took on a special matter of interest and significance, and that was that we were missing three special past team members. I mention in particular John Marshall, who is the partner of Carol Cooke. He is suffering from terminal cancer and naturally was not able to attend on the night. Carol and her sister Wendy also were not there. It was disappointing not having those close friends who were not able to attend on the night, but our wishes were with them.

During the night we lit candles. I think we did the candlelight ceremony at around 7 o'clock . We wrote messages on the bags in which the candles sat, recognising John and wishing him all the best.

As mentioned, the team received the award for being the highest fundraiser. It raised $25,676.70. Our team has raised over $110,000 for Cancer Council Queensland—something that I am very proud of, that I am committed to doing and that I will continue to do. This year in the Brisbane Relay for Life there were 64 teams, and they raised just a touch over $170,000. The overall attendance was around 150 patrons. Approximately 46 survivors and carers attended the event.

Cancer Council Queensland raised $4.4 million—and that figure is still rising across the state—which is up from $3.6 million last year. This is an amazing effort. The survivorship rate continues to grow every year, with the overall percentage at 67 per cent of all cancer patients. You can see that the money is going to a good cause and is increasing the survival rate of those with cancer.

In closing, I congratulate the Cancer Council Queensland organising committee for the excellent work that they do every year, along with the tireless work and effort of the volunteers, the survivors and all the teams that made the Brisbane Relay for Life 2012 possible.