Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Readers of Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper may have noticed a story two Sundays ago headed 'Boys lose both parents'. This story relayed the tragic circumstances of two young boys in my electorate, 10-year-old Dylan and 13-year-old Connor, who lost both of their parents within 10 weeks of each other this year. Their father, Jason Watts, died of B cell lymphoma, aged just 45. Ten weeks previously, their mother, Julie, had died of breast cancer, aged just 47. This is a tragic event for these children.

Jason was a major in the Australian Defence Force. In fact, I understand that he served at the Australian Defence Force Academy with my colleague across the chamber the member for Solomon. He was a major. He served in East Timor and in Papua New Guinea.

There is an appeal for the family—for these two young boys. I encourage anybody who can to find their way to make a donation to this appeal. It will be very well received. The website is wattsonourminds.com. I commend it to anybody who happens to be listening to this broadcast today.