Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

I want to express gratitude for one of our country's most generous and caring organisations, the volunteer-run Lions Club, and their Need for Feed project. I recently attended a dinner with the Lions clubs of Victor Harbor and Goolwa in my electorate of Mayo where I had the pleasure of meeting the pioneer for Need for Feed, Graham Cockerell, and he's an inspirational man.

It started with just one small truckload of Graham's own hay, which he delivered to a drought affected farmer 20 years ago. Over the weekend, Graham and Need for Feed were part of a huge convoy of trucks across the Nullarbor Plain from Western Australia, carrying 6,000 hay and straw bales to drought-hit farmers across South Australia, including in my electorate of Mayo. In the last two decades, Need for Feed has delivered more than $45 million worth of fodder across the country to farmers impacted by drought, flood and fire. I'd really like to thank Graham—he's an inspiration and a true Australian—and all the Need for Feed volunteers for showing such incredible care and assistance to our farming and rural communities. It's about saying: 'We're there with you. We're standing with you.' We've had good rain in South Australia, but there's no food on the ground, and this work is lifesaving not just for the animals but for the farmers, too, so thank you to Graham, Need for Feed and the Lions Club of Australia.

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