Queensland Country Life 2024 Showgirl Awards Morning Tea

Queensland Showgirl Awards Chair Miss Paige Caldwell and Committee Members; 2023 Showgirls and 2024 State Finalists; distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen.

I begin by acknowledging the Original Custodians of the lands around Brisbane, the Turrbal and Jagera people, and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and any First Nations people with us this morning.

I also acknowledge and welcome the Chair and members of the Queensland Country Life Showgirl Awards committee, the young women on exchange from Ag Shows New South Wales, last year’s QCL Showgirl Award winners, and, especially, the eleven 2024 Award finalists.

For the past 42 years, these awards have played a vital role in promoting the value of agricultural shows in Queensland and in recognising the contribution that young women can make to sustaining the future of our agricultural heritage.

To appreciate just how significant that contribution is, we need only consider the achievements of this year’s finalists, and, at the outset, I take this opportunity, as Governor and Patron of the RNA, to congratulate each of you on your success to date.

I also take this opportunity to thank Queensland Ag Shows for continuing to foster the talents of our young women through hosting these awards. I commend both the chamber and the Showgirl Awards Committee on their commitment to keeping the awards sustainable and relevant.

Removing ‘Miss’ from the title of the awards in 2020, for example, was not just a cosmetic change; it signalled the fact that, for the first time, the competition was open to any Queensland woman aged between 18 and 28, irrespective of her marital status or whether she had children. This apparently simple action opened the way to new sources of support and advocacy for the agricultural show movement.

Other changes, too, have helped ensure that the event continues to appeal to show societies, communities, prospective entrants and sponsors. In this regard, I acknowledge the important leadership shown by all the long-standing sponsors of these awards, particularly Queensland Country Life. Their commitment as naming-rights sponsor since the very first competition in 1982 has been critical to the reputation of the awards and to how they are perceived by the community and potential new sponsors.

I have been very pleased to see the development of leadership and communication skills as a more prominent aspect of the finalists’ program in recent years, and I encourage every finalist to take full advantage of these opportunities.

Queensland needs greater diversity in the leadership of our institutions and corporations, particularly in the agricultural sector and in rural and regional areas, where women remain under-represented in decision-making roles.

Yours is the generation that can help bring about change, and whatever the outcome of this year’s competition, each of you is already a champion.

There are 128 agricultural show societies in this State and you’ve been endorsed by both your local society and your sub-chamber. In short, you have already demonstrated the qualities that are making you a respected voice and an authentic role model.

I wish you every success for the award finals and for your future endeavours and now would like to invite Miss Paide Caldwell forward to announce each of this year’s finalists so I may have the honour of presenting you with your State Final sashes.