Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For 10 days every August, the country meets the city at the Brisbane Ekka. Each year, Scouts Queensland, based in Auchenflower in my electorate of Ryan, participate in the Ekka's fruit display competition. The fruit display is one of the most popular events at the Ekka with entrants from right across the state. I recently met with Scouts Queensland, and they explained the process of putting together a winning fruit display. The display takes about four months to put together—from design concept to the final day of the Ekka. Each piece of fruit is painstakingly checked for blemishes and bruises. Last year's display used just over 1½ tonnes of fruit. Once the fruit arrives at the RNA Showgrounds, a group of 10 people spend almost two days placing the fruit on the display. At the end of the Ekka, the fruit that is not sold is donated to Foodbank Queensland for distribution through their network of charities. Judging of the fruit display took place last Thursday week, and I am pleased to announce that Scouts Queensland took out second place in this year's competition. I congratulate the scouts on their hard work and wish them well in future competitions.

I take this opportunity to congratulate Brendan Christou and all the councillors at the RNA for an outstanding show this year. In particular, I did enjoy the woodchopping event with Mr Phil Kesby and Ms Tory Shenstone as MCs, and the junior fashion competition, in which Kenmore State School had several entrants and winners. All in all, it was a great show for all of Brisbane.