Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about North Queensland Community Transport in Townsville and the community of Townsville. The Townsville Online Tenders System has a fleet of 39 drivers, all volunteers, and to drive for North Queensland Community Transport they must all have first aid certificates. Unfortunately, North Queensland Community Transport were not able to pay for that because they are a totally non-profit organisation, so they asked me what I could do. I put out an email to all my associates and three people got back to me before I could do anything—the three large clubs in Townsville: the Cowboys Leagues Club, the RSL and Brothers Leagues Club. Craig Thomas, Joe Kelly and Karla Malouf said, ‘We will pay for the lot in one fell swoop. Then, if you let us know about every volunteer who comes through, we will ensure that everyone who drives for this valuable community service has a current first aid certificate.’ I think it is an absolutely wonderful thing to have done.

The value to the community of the clubs in Townsville is enormous. They provide jobs, cut-price meals and all that sort of stuff. They do many things for the community, including providing large amounts of money for sporting clubs. I just want to make sure that everyone knows how good these clubs are. It would be a shame if anyone ever did something to prejudice their position to be able to provide these valuable community services.