00:00:02
Speaker 1: Well, we love the Variety Club and we've got a long standing special relationship with Variety on account of the radio fion that that we do every year. And we know too that and certainly our former colleague here, Jane Riley, spent many years taking part in things.
00:00:18
Speaker 2: Like the Variety Bash.
00:00:20
Speaker 1: So much of what Variety does in terms of its fundraising involves the use of motor cars. Well, sadly we understand that Variety Essay has in the last couple of days made the decision to postpone this year's four wheel drive event, the Kegari Event, and a big part of that, the key part of that is the cost of petrol. But I imagine also that the sort of optics of of even though it's for a good cause, you know, driving through remote parts of rural Queensland where local farmers, local families might be struggling to actually get access to these at all and not wanting to look like they're going to be eating into dwindling stocks. Mark McGill is our good mate, he's a CEO of Variety Essay and we've got Mark on the line now morning. Well, good morning mate, thanks so much for coming on. So you must have you must have had to. It's not canceled, but it's definitely been postponed. This event. What what was the was it the Was it pricing? That was the key issue.
00:01:24
Speaker 3: Every aspect that you just mentioned open was just was put into the mix. There's a lot of internal discussion, a lot of external discussion and consultation. So we put together all that information over about three days and presented a board and we made the very difficult decision, as you said, to postpone the twenty twenty six pardon me event in its entirety to twenty.
00:01:48
Speaker 1: Twenty seven's happening this year.
00:01:50
Speaker 3: Not happening this year. We do have contingencies based on hope. I guess is really to be brutally honest, because we just don't know what the future holds. In terms of if we can get an event away inside South Australia, a three or four day full or drive adventure, well you know it will also be served as a bit of a three pronged approach in terms of bringing our community together, continue to support the children that we do, and also backing our local regions. So but you know, to your point, we had seventy plus vehicles one hundred leters per vehicle. If you do the simple maths that every time you fill up, you're taking seven thousand leaders out of out of regional areas that have unreliable supply. And that's really the aspect that not only costs our entrants in their passionate and generosity to probably you wear that, but it's more about the point is that we're part of the community, and we're a really big part of the community in terms of the support be of a children and families. It's a little bit contradictory to go into these kinds of places that are facing challenges with supply, agricultural, central services, local business, or they need that fuel to operate. So we made that very difficol decision.
00:03:16
Speaker 1: So, Mark, I hate to even mention this, but are you worried that the same issue could become a problem for the variety Bash Well, it's not.
00:03:27
Speaker 3: It would be naive of us not to look to the horizon about that. Again, you know, we are very confident. We've we've put eighteen months these motoring events data that will they're eighteen months in the planning, so it's not something that you can just sort of, you know, to use the COVID word pivot and simply sort of say, right, we'll put that through the shredder and we'll make up another little trip in saying that we are committed to the twenty twenty six bash up to birds will if we can. And that's a really you know, that's that's an important aspect, is that we're not going to just you know, we're not cowboys. You know, we're very much in mindful of what we can do. We've got obviously protocols safety to concern, but again we really we are looking to the future about that, but at the moment it's not an issue, but we hope it's not going.
00:04:25
Speaker 2: To be an issue.
00:04:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, well, Mark, thank you for joining us. And we're sure that you know, Variety will still find other ways to make money and you know here at five double A we are always ready, ready and willing to be part of that too. Mart McGill see our variety, say thanks, Matte, are these little things disappointed us to how uncertain and how expensive life has become?
00:04:47
Speaker 2: We spoke about derry before the break, doing about farming, do it, filling out your car all. Unfortunately, charity giving is a discretion, is the perhaps the most discretionary of spends, isn't it. In people's minds, it's going to be the first thing that goes when you have to tighten your belt a little bit and you can't. Can you imagine see Houth Australia without the bash happening?
00:05:08
Speaker 1: Yeah I am. It's been part of life as long as I can have been.
00:05:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You'd think it was the kind of thing that was going to endure forever.
Speaker 1: Well, we love the Variety Club and we've got a long standing special relationship with Variety on account of the radio fion that that we do every year. And we know too that and certainly our former colleague here, Jane Riley, spent many years taking part in things.
00:00:18
Speaker 2: Like the Variety Bash.
00:00:20
Speaker 1: So much of what Variety does in terms of its fundraising involves the use of motor cars. Well, sadly we understand that Variety Essay has in the last couple of days made the decision to postpone this year's four wheel drive event, the Kegari Event, and a big part of that, the key part of that is the cost of petrol. But I imagine also that the sort of optics of of even though it's for a good cause, you know, driving through remote parts of rural Queensland where local farmers, local families might be struggling to actually get access to these at all and not wanting to look like they're going to be eating into dwindling stocks. Mark McGill is our good mate, he's a CEO of Variety Essay and we've got Mark on the line now morning. Well, good morning mate, thanks so much for coming on. So you must have you must have had to. It's not canceled, but it's definitely been postponed. This event. What what was the was it the Was it pricing? That was the key issue.
00:01:24
Speaker 3: Every aspect that you just mentioned open was just was put into the mix. There's a lot of internal discussion, a lot of external discussion and consultation. So we put together all that information over about three days and presented a board and we made the very difficult decision, as you said, to postpone the twenty twenty six pardon me event in its entirety to twenty.
00:01:48
Speaker 1: Twenty seven's happening this year.
00:01:50
Speaker 3: Not happening this year. We do have contingencies based on hope. I guess is really to be brutally honest, because we just don't know what the future holds. In terms of if we can get an event away inside South Australia, a three or four day full or drive adventure, well you know it will also be served as a bit of a three pronged approach in terms of bringing our community together, continue to support the children that we do, and also backing our local regions. So but you know, to your point, we had seventy plus vehicles one hundred leters per vehicle. If you do the simple maths that every time you fill up, you're taking seven thousand leaders out of out of regional areas that have unreliable supply. And that's really the aspect that not only costs our entrants in their passionate and generosity to probably you wear that, but it's more about the point is that we're part of the community, and we're a really big part of the community in terms of the support be of a children and families. It's a little bit contradictory to go into these kinds of places that are facing challenges with supply, agricultural, central services, local business, or they need that fuel to operate. So we made that very difficol decision.
00:03:16
Speaker 1: So, Mark, I hate to even mention this, but are you worried that the same issue could become a problem for the variety Bash Well, it's not.
00:03:27
Speaker 3: It would be naive of us not to look to the horizon about that. Again, you know, we are very confident. We've we've put eighteen months these motoring events data that will they're eighteen months in the planning, so it's not something that you can just sort of, you know, to use the COVID word pivot and simply sort of say, right, we'll put that through the shredder and we'll make up another little trip in saying that we are committed to the twenty twenty six bash up to birds will if we can. And that's a really you know, that's that's an important aspect, is that we're not going to just you know, we're not cowboys. You know, we're very much in mindful of what we can do. We've got obviously protocols safety to concern, but again we really we are looking to the future about that, but at the moment it's not an issue, but we hope it's not going.
00:04:25
Speaker 2: To be an issue.
00:04:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, well, Mark, thank you for joining us. And we're sure that you know, Variety will still find other ways to make money and you know here at five double A we are always ready, ready and willing to be part of that too. Mart McGill see our variety, say thanks, Matte, are these little things disappointed us to how uncertain and how expensive life has become?
00:04:47
Speaker 2: We spoke about derry before the break, doing about farming, do it, filling out your car all. Unfortunately, charity giving is a discretion, is the perhaps the most discretionary of spends, isn't it. In people's minds, it's going to be the first thing that goes when you have to tighten your belt a little bit and you can't. Can you imagine see Houth Australia without the bash happening?
00:05:08
Speaker 1: Yeah I am. It's been part of life as long as I can have been.
00:05:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You'd think it was the kind of thing that was going to endure forever.
