Damian Drum (Murray, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I spent yesterday at Rochester, where they put on a dairy farmers' big day out. Certainly, we are all aware of the crisis facing the dairy industry at the moment, and of the need for all of us to help those in that industry who might need a little bit of a hand-up every now and again.

The event was run by St Vincent de Paul, the Rochester and Elmore District Health Service, the Lions Club and the business network, as well as a few others. I want to thank Gavin Houlihan and Mark Naley in particular for the work that they did in organising the event. There was a great turnout, with over 200 people attending and, in line with what has happened with Murray Goulburn suppliers and also Fonterra suppliers, all of those farmers will be given a $200 gift pack, with this money effectively coming from St Vincent de Paul. As a guest speaker they had Kevin Sheedy, the legendary football coach. Kevin probably knows very little about agriculture, but he certainly knows a lot about how to be positive, how to make the most of your opportunities and about understanding that tough times usually do not last but positive people normally end up being successful.

It was also great to see the leader of the National Party in the Victorian parliament, Peter Walsh, there supporting his electorate as well. Late in the day Peter Walsh and I went halves in a 'team of the century' print which we were then able to donate back to the Rochester community so that they can do some more fundraising with St Vincent de Paul to try and help some more people as the rollercoaster goes around. With those things, I certainly wish them all the very best.