Page 916 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 24 February 2009
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against the Crusaders. All gate takings from the Canberra FC-Melbourne Knights game went to the relief fund; $50 of each entry fee for the Corporate Challenge component of the Stromlo running festival is being donated. Brewers Best Cricket Club and southside teachers are playing a limited overs match and will donate $1 for every single and $5 for every six scored.
The Independent Schools Rowing Association used their regatta on 14 February to raise funds. The Bush Capital Horse Rescue Association is sending horse equipment and $2,500 was raised at a collection during the Belgium-Australia hockey match.
Donations were collected at the Swans-Port Adelaide match at Manuka. Canberra’s business and corporate citizens have shown, as they always do, their sympathy and their support. Canberra International Airport has donated $200,000 and ActewAGL, Actew and TransACT, a total of $100,000. Retailers at the Melba shops have given $500 each and have held a fundraising barbecue. Floressence Day Spa and the ACT Fire Brigade raised $26,400. Staff from Ginger Catering are donating all their tips for the month of February.
Young Canberrans similarly have displayed their spirit and their compassion. Many schools, public and private, have arranged fundraising events as well as providing practical assistance. To give just a few examples that have come to my attention, a group of year 9 students from Lyneham high school helped pack relief boxes. The Birrigai outdoor school is donating sleeping bags. Lyneham primary had a uniform-free day and raised $5,000.
Calwell high school students raised $1,000 from a sausage sizzle, and many other public schools organised their own fundraising events and contributed between $1,000 and $1,500 to the appeal. The 180 students at the Orana school at Weston raised $8,600. Merici college collected $10,000, as well as a large quantity of toys and goods.
There have been countless fundraising events held over the past two weeks. Each donation, no matter how large or small, adds up. It adds up to well over three-quarters of a million dollars through events run here in the ACT. It adds up to a caring city. I would like to place on record my appreciation for the speed and the compassion with which Canberrans have joined together to show families hundreds of kilometres away that the thoughts and prayers of the national capital are focused on Victoria at this time.
In concluding, Mr Speaker, on the day that David Balfour was buried it is also appropriate for me, along with many colleagues from the Assembly—Mr Corbell, Ms Hunter, Mr Seselja, Mr Smyth and Mr Doszpot—to place on the record today my condolences, those of the government, indeed, I am sure those of every member of the Assembly, to David Balfour’s family, friends and colleagues.
I acknowledge today too that the thoughts and prayers of all in the national capital are also with David’s family, with David’s friends, and with his colleagues on the day on which one of ours, seeking to support another community as a firefighter, paid that supreme price—his life—through supporting that community.
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