Page 2740 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 26 September 2007
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for Camp Quality this year will be quite important for Canberra because it will be the first time in 16 years that the esCarpade has started from Canberra and it will actually be the first time that Canberra has entered a vehicle.
That vehicle—because I know you are a car lover, Mr Speaker—is a 1973 Holden LJ Torana with a 202 Holden motor, XU-1 rods, ACL 30,000 pistons and a stage 5 heat seeker solid cam and lifters.
Mr Barr: The Speaker is a Ford man, isn’t he? He would rather push his Ford than drive a Holden.
MR SMYTH: Mr Speaker, Mr Barr points out that you are a Ford man, but I thought you should know that there are some other vehicles on the road and some of them are trying to do good things for kids with cancer. Over the last 16 years the Camp Quality esCarpade has covered about 48,000 kilometres and visited 200 towns. It translates roughly to 2,000 entrants, 320 officials and millions and millions of dollars raised for Camp Quality. This year it starts in Canberra. It circles around the north of Goulburn to Laggan. It goes down to Bombala, Lakes Entrance to Melbourne, across to Devonport, to Hobart and then back to Devonport. So it will cover an interesting route. In another first for the esCarpade, it is the first time it will actually cross the Bass Strait and go to Tasmania.
At the heart of Camp Quality is that we do have in our community a group of kids who are affected by cancer. We all know how sad that is. A child in a family living with cancer is a dreadful thing, and the goal this year will be to help a child and their family living with cancer by not only sending the kids to camp, but also offering financial assistance to those families finding it hard to balance the cost of cancer treatment and everyday living, as well as handing out doses of fun therapy in paediatric oncology wards in each capital city and helping the McDonalds Camp Quality puppets visit more schools throughout Australia.
We know that Camp Quality currently helps more than 5,000 kids with cancer and their families in this country and I urge everyone to get behind this group of brave adventurers, who are Ivan Slavich from ActewAGL, Andy Mills from Camp Quality and Eoghan O’Byrne from FM 104.7.
I think it is a tremendous way to have a bit of fun, but it is a great way to get that message out on the road so that people do understand that there are those less well off in the community through no fault of their own who really do deserve any assistance we can offer. If people want to make donations, they can do so at the ActewAGL office in the city or they can contact SERVICE ONE Members Banking. I have the details in my office if people would like them.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
The Assembly adjourned at 6.08 pm.
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