From the mayor's desk: Governor-General visits Dubbo

Monday was one of those moments, with Channel 9’s FarmAid Telethon taking place in our own backyard and raising $8.1 million (as of Wednesday morning) to go to drought assistance. 

It is part of their Fighting for Our Farmers appeal, with all donations going to Rotary, who will direct it to organisations who can provide immediate assistance.

The day was made even bigger by the attendance of the Governor-General, His Excellency Peter Cosgrove, and Lady Cosgrove.

They wanted to come to Dubbo and find out firsthand how serious the drought was and it was my honour to be their guide during their short trip.

I was on hand to greet Sir Peter and Lady Cosgrove at Dubbo Regional Airport and accompany them to the Showground, where Sir Peter spoke to the Today Show about what farmers are going through.

He then got to meet some of the organisations that are lending a hand, including the Country Women’s Association, Rotary and Foodbank.

Foodbank brought a truckload of supplies including bottled water, fruits and vegetables that they were distributing and their goal was to give it all away by the end of the day.

The Governor-General was impressed with the effort community groups are putting in and was pleased to be able to talk to them.

I then accompanied them back to airport for them to catch a flight back to Canberra, where they were due to host the President of Poland.

For me, it was then back to the showground again for my own segment on Today with host Karl Stefanovic.

I had the chance to talk to him about how locals were being affected and the impact it was having on the whole community. As well as thanking Channel 9 for choosing Dubbo to host the Telethon, I was also able to announce a $10,000 donation from Dubbo Regional Council funded by our Livestock Markets business.

From there I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to present Karl with an ‘I Love Dubbo’ T-shirt and cap had the obligatory photo opportunity with him.

While walking around the showground, I was impressed by the support shown from the community. People of all ages had turned out, including groups of school kids from all over the region.

And to see the money pouring in right throughout the day was simply incredible. It really made everything worthwhile.

I would like to thank Council staff for their tremendous efforts in ensuring the Telethon was able to go ahead. It is hard to explain just how much work goes into making an event like this possible.

It came together at short notice but the hard work was worth it, as it meant everything ran smoothly.

Channel 9 were also fantastic to work with, and did a lot of the organising.

Some high-profile celebrities such as Today hosts Karl and Georgie Gardner, Doctor Doctor lead actor Rodger Corser, crocodile wrangler Matt Wright and Shannon Noll were all there to give the event star power.

Of course, one event and fundraiser isn’t going to be enough to help all of the farmers and all of the businesses that are doing it tough because of the drought. It is important everyone show whatever support they can for as long as it continues.

Council will continue to look at what it can do to assist, but in the meantime everyone should cross their fingers that the forecast for good rainfalls on Saturday come to fruition and even exceed expectations.

Drought Relief Appeal and Farm Aid Telethon has been an incredible success.

So far a staggering $8,107,822 has been raised to support drought-stricken farmers.

To donate call 1800 732 165. or to www.donations.rawcs.com.au.