E&OE
Good morning, everyone. Thank you very much for being here.
I want to say thank you to Bruce and Denise for the amazing courage that they’ve shown, the broader Morcombe family, and very close friends.
We’ve watched Bruce and Denise reach out in a way that no other parents in the country can – and they have changed the direction of this country, of many families, and they’ve influenced literally millions of children.
We’re here as much today to honour the memory of Daniel as we are to pay our respects to Bruce and Denise, who I think are two of the most amazing Australians you could ever meet.
They’ve got wonderful support – not just from the community here, and I want to give a big shout out to all of the teachers, to the school communities, who are really integral to the conveyance of the message, particularly to stay safe online.
So, it’s great to see so many school students here today and to reach into schools right across the country.
One of the amazing things of the Morcombe Foundation has been the way that they’ve been able to work with other groups: Act for Kids, and many other NGOs around the country, particularly through the work of the ACCCE, the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation. They leverage off each other’s skills, they don’t compete.
They know that there is a much greater cause here, and it’s that pragmatic approach that has seen the Morcombe Foundation become such a success – about a million dollars a year put back into programmes in the community, and that is because of the personal sacrifice of Bruce and Denise, of their broader family, and we really celebrate that today.
I want to say thank you very much to the wonderful Kay McGrath. Thank you so much, Kay. As patron and as somebody who has, I guess we’ve shared, as we’ve aged, as we’ve grown up and we’ve watched Kay on TV, she has a huge heart and she’s like many of the other people on the Board and associated with the Foundation. So, thank you to those volunteers.
Thank you to Minister Elliot, Minister Crawford, David Crisafulli, to Ted O’Brien and to Andrew Wallace, to all of our friends who are here today. I think it’s a real show of our respect and our support of the work of the Foundation.
It’s a bit cooler this week, this year.
So, enjoy the walk and thank you very much for being here today.
[ends]