Julian Simmonds (Ryan, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is nothing like attending your local regional show and the recent Brookfield Show in my electorate of Ryan did not disappoint. The show has been a two-day event since 1910 and at that point was opened by the then Governor of Queensland Sir William McGregor. The now three-day event on average draws 20,000 people every year. This year I attended the show recently with my family and we had a fantastic time. The fireworks display was a particular hit. It was the first time my 11-month-old daughter, Isabelle, had seen fireworks and she was very impressed.

My community was very upset last year, as one of the many disappointments of the COVID period, when the show had to be cancelled and we were unable to come together and support local businesses and community groups, as we normally do during the Brookfield show. Like other regional shows, the Brookfield Show Society were hit especially hard by the cancellation. It's their biggest event in the calendar, of course, and, after running a show for 108 years, the Brookfield Show Society were unsure how they were going to recover from the refunds and loss of revenue in 2020.

Last year the Morrison government committed $39 million as part of the Supporting Agricultural Shows and Field Days program. This program was established for exactly this reason: to assist regional shows to cover the costs of cancellations and to ensure that their 2021 shows could go ahead. I pushed particularly strongly within the government for the Brookfield Show Society to be considered as part of this program; as a result, they received $70,000 to support them through this very tough COVID period. As a result, we were able to come together for this year's 110th Brookfield Show. In a way that is fitting for this particular milestone of 110 years, it was opened by our current governor, and it ensured that the show came back even better than before the pandemic. Across the three days of the show, people flocked to Brookfield from right across the state to enjoy the beautiful weather, the entertainment and the classic show food and, of course, to support their local businesses. I was able to hold my own stall there at the show and to see the thousands of people passing through every day and to engage with them.

I want to particularly thank show society president Catherine Fullerton for all of her work and, of course, I thank all of the volunteers. We know that a regional show of that magnitude doesn't come together without a lot of work from volunteers. I really want to express my heartfelt thanks that, after the disappointments of last year with COVID and the cancellation, they were able to put in the hard yards and bring the show back together. It is a wonderful icon of our local area, and I'm delighted that it can continue.

Likewise, of course, the other disappointment arising from COVID last year was the cancellation of a lot of school fetes. These are now coming back with a vengeance. I was able to attend the Ferny Grove State School festival on Saturday. I want to congratulate Ferny Grove State School, as well as Ashgrove State School whose fete I also attended—two fantastic local schools with great fetes. I thank the volunteers for putting those events together.