Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Cyber Security and Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Saturday, Tuggeranong exploded into life with the inaugural SouthFest festival. SouthFest started out as an idea to bring life into the streets, the laneways and the lake foreshore area of the Tuggeranong Town Centre and, most importantly, to connect with the local community. It did that in spades, with an estimated 20,000 people coming through the event during the course of the day. There were over 200 market stallholders, food vendors, street performers, musicians, Etsy Made Local and free inflatables for the kids. The day was a huge success—an unparalleled success.

This was all made possible with the help of five major partners, including the ACT government, and the enormous support of community partners, including: the Tuggeranong Community Council; YWCA Canberra; Tuggeranong Arts Centre; My Tuggeranong; The Vikings Group; Communities@Work; Valley FM; Meeting Place; Southpoint, or the old Hyperdome; Independent Property Group; Needhams Financial Planning; OSKY Interactive; and Interact Collaborations.

We all know that the success of events like these is only made possible with an engine room running at full steam in the background. In this case, it was the subcommittee formed out of the Tuggeranong Community Council. I want to give a big congratulations to Taryn Langdon, who drove the vision, and to the rest of the SouthFest committee. Drew, Catherine, Glenys, Beverly, Peter, Louise, Daisy, Didi, Alison, Rachel and Taimus, thank you so much for realising that vision and bringing Taryn's idea to life.