Eight accessible netball courts have been completed at South Pine Sports Complex in Brendale following a $1.71 million upgrade designed to support the ACE Netball Club and improve facilities at the popular sporting precinct.
The project involved rebuilding the existing courts at South Pine Sports Complex and delivering eight new playing surfaces designed for long-term use.
The upgraded courts were officially opened on Saturday, 7 March 2026, marking the completion of the refurbishment at the well-used sports venue.
The upgrade was undertaken to support the growing ACE Netball Club, which uses the complex as its home base.
Photo Credit: City of Moreton Bay/Facebook
Accessibility Improvements Across The Site
Works carried out during the upgrade focused on improving accessibility and usability around the venue.
A ditch that previously separated the clubhouse and the courts was levelled and asphalted to create a continuous path between the facilities. The change makes it easier for players, officials and spectators to move around the courts.
The redevelopment also added new benches and water bubblers across the site to support players and visitors.
Photo Credit: City of Moreton Bay/Facebook
Drainage Upgrades For Wet Weather
Drainage improvements were included as part of the works to improve the condition of the courts during wet weather.
The changes aim to make the courts more resilient and usable during periods of rain while maintaining consistent playing conditions.
High-quality playing surfaces were installed as part of the upgrade to support ongoing netball use at the venue.
Supporting A Growing Netball Club
ACE Netball Club operates from South Pine Sports Complex and continues to grow its membership.
Club representatives said the upgraded courts provide a safer and more accessible playing environment for members and help ensure the club can continue to support its players.
Photo Credit: City of Moreton Bay/Facebook
Community Reaction
Public comments on the announcement of the upgraded courts included positive responses about the new facilities.
Some commenters also raised suggestions for additional sporting facilities at the complex, including dedicated pickleball courts.
Ongoing Use Of The Complex
South Pine Sports Complex continues to serve as a busy location for community sport.
The completed netball court upgrade is expected to support ongoing club activities and provide improved facilities for players, officials and spectators using the venue in Brendale.
The Brisbane Entertainment Centre at Boondall is approaching the end of its run as a live entertainment venue, with the 2032 Brisbane Olympics expected to mark its final chapter, and debate is already building over what could rise on the 64-hectare site once the curtain comes down.
The centre has been a fixture of Queensland’s live entertainment scene since it first opened its doors in February 1986, drawing more than 19 million visitors over four decades. The venue is expected to host an Olympic event, European handball is the current frontrunner, and that occasion is broadly anticipated to be its last major booking. After that, the privately developed Gabba Arena is set to take over as the city’s leading indoor venue, leaving the Boondall site open to an entirely new purpose.
Urban planners and property developers say it is the kind of prospect that rarely presents itself. A senior planning director at Colliers said it is not often a site of this size becomes available as a single land parcel, connected to two train stations and the Gateway Motorway. She said she struggled to see any future in which the Entertainment Centre continues operating in its present form, and drew comparisons to the long-running community debate over the former Toombul shopping centre site, suggesting the Boondall conversation will generate no shortage of opinions.
Photo credit: Robert Garvey/Google Maps
The Queensland Land Activation Program, administered through Economic Development Queensland, has added momentum to that conversation by inviting private developers to put forward proposals for underutilised publicly owned land that could be converted to housing. According to industry observers, the Boondall site is a natural fit for that program.
An associate director at Urban Economics said developer interest in the site would be considerable, but argued the opportunity should not be viewed purely through a housing lens. He held up Brisbane Technology Park at Eight Mile Plains as a relevant precedent, a precinct that took shape over many years and now supports around 300 jobs per hectare through private investment. A similar employment-focused model, he suggested, could work well at Boondall once environmental constraints on the site are taken into account.
A director at planning consultancy URPS put forward a more ambitious vision still. He described the potential for what he called a subtropical garden suburb, a concept rooted in the garden city movement, which sought to combine the convenience of city living with meaningful access to green space and nature. Applied to Boondall, the concept would celebrate and respect the natural environment of the wetlands and open bushland adjoining the site.
Photo credit: Mark Ruffcut Anderson/Google Maps
After accounting for flood-prone and environmentally sensitive areas, he estimated somewhere between 20 and 27 hectares could realistically be developed, with capacity for as many as 2,500 dwellings at varying densities. The emphasis, he said, would be on creating a mixed and balanced community with access to employment, services and diverse housing, close to the natural environment.
Both planning experts agreed that the northern portion of the site, the bushland corridor between the venue and the Gateway Motorway, warrants careful protection. Development would be better concentrated toward the south, where land has already been cleared and sits largely above flood levels. That cleared land, as it happens, is the same expanse of car parks that has tested the patience of generations of concert and event patrons.
Sport and recreation also feature in the mix of possibilities. Both experts suggested the indoor sports centre that sits alongside the Entertainment Centre could reasonably be retained for community use. A proposal developed by Hockey Queensland in 2024 for a $58.25 million northern Brisbane facility, with three playing fields and seating for 1,500, has also been floated as a potential fit for the site, though Hockey Queensland has more recently turned its attention to the Gold Coast Hockey Centre ahead of the 2032 Games.
Legends Global, the company that has operated the Entertainment Centre from the outset, marked the venue’s 40th anniversary and pointed to its track record with pride, while acknowledging that decisions about what comes next belong to others.
No formal proposals have been submitted to the Land Activation Program for the site as yet. But the URPS director was firm on one point, whatever vision ultimately takes shape, it will need to be driven by clear public leadership rather than left entirely to market forces, given the scale of what is at stake and the lasting legacy that the 2032 Games should leave behind.
For Albany Creek, Boondall and the communities that make up Brisbane’s northern corridor, the Entertainment Centre has long been part of the local fabric. What replaces it may define the area for decades to come.
The Eaton Hills Hotel is preparing to transform into a high-octane sporting arena as local mixed martial arts returns to the heart of the community for a night of elite regional competition.
Residents and fight fans are marking their calendars for Friday, March 20, 2026, when Beatdown Promotions 13 arrives at the well-known Brisbane venue. The event, which kicks off at 5:00 PM and runs until 10:00 PM, aims to bring an international sporting atmosphere to the local stage.
While the UFC has a storied history in the region, this upcoming show focuses on the rising stars and established veterans of the Australian circuit. Those who cannot attend in person are expected to have access to a live stream through the DAZN platform and the official Beatdown Promotions website.
The spotlight of the evening falls on a middleweight showdown featuring Toby Tsang against Kevin “Yasuke” Church. Tsang enters the cage with significant momentum following a quick victory in his previous outing, where he displayed his grappling skills by finishing his opponent with an arm-triangle choke.
He faces a tough test in Church, an experienced competitor who intends to halt Tsang’s rise in the division. The card also features a featherweight match between Michael Barber, who holds a 6-11-0 record, and Yuki Angdembe, who is looking to move past a recent loss and improve his 5-3-0 standing.
Beyond the individual matches, the evening is designed to offer a professional experience for the Brisbane public. Organisers have arranged the space to include both general admission standing sections and a more formal “cage-side” dinner service, allowing for a variety of ways to watch the action.
By mixing professional bouts with high-level amateur contests, the promotion continues its tradition of supporting the growth of combat sports within Queensland while providing a polished production that rivals global organisations.
Everton Hills resident Jenny Heron has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for her six decades of voluntary service to women’s hockey across Queensland.
The local community is celebrating after Heron was named in the 2026 Australia Day Awards for her lifelong commitment to the field. Her journey began in 1962 during her primary school years when a classmate invited her to play at Ascot. That single invitation led to a sixty-three-year membership with the same club.
Over the decades, she moved from being a young player to taking on vital leadership roles, including serving as a coach, umpire, and club secretary. She was granted life membership at her home club in 1978, marking the first of many major milestones in her career.
Heron’s influence extended far beyond her local club as she took on significant responsibilities within the Brisbane Women’s Hockey Association. She spent sixteen years on their management committee, holding the positions of vice president from 1995 to 1997 and secretary during two separate periods in the late eighties and nineties.
Her expertise as a veterans’ selector began in 1995 and has continued almost without interruption since 2001. In recognition of this extensive provincial work, she was made a life member of the association more than twenty-five years ago.
While she is a familiar face in the Everton Hills area, Heron has also represented the state on the national and international stage. She was selected to play for the Queensland Over 45 Masters team in Darwin in 1998 and later travelled to Hong Kong for the 2019 World Masters Indoor Championships. Her work as a technical officer and assistant tournament director earned her a life membership with Hockey Queensland in 2017. Even this year, she continues to support the sport by attending the Masters in Brisbane and the under-16 titles in Rockhampton to ensure the games are managed professionally for the next generation.
When Albany Creek local Lance Corporal Imogen Barker took to the stage for the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattooat the Suncorp Stadium in February, she did so as part of one of the world’s most celebrated military showcases, and with her father performing right alongside her.
She was among more than 1,100 musicians and dancers from 13 nations who performed in the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo’s exclusive Queensland debut, which ran from 12 to 15 February 2026. But for Imogen, the moment was personal in a way few performers could claim. Her father, Musician Bill Barker, played tuba alongside her in the Australian Defence Force’s combined military band, making it a family affair on one of the grandest stages in the world.
It almost didn’t happen that way. The Barker family had already secured tickets to watch the show from the audience when Imogen received word she would be performing. Then came the second surprise — Bill would be performing too.
Imogen said it was rare for a father and daughter to be doing the same job, let alone performing in the same show, and that’s exactly what made it so special. She described the Tattoo as a pinnacle event, and said performing in Brisbane alongside such a calibre of international performers was a genuine honour.
RSL Queensland, which shared news of the Barkers’ performance on social media, said they were “incredibly excited to see them share this unforgettable moment.”
The story of the Barkers is one of music, service and family tradition woven together across three generations. Imogen’s grandfather served in National Service before going on to play with the 25th Battalion Band in Toowoomba. Her father Bill joined the Army Band in 2010, following years spent performing in community bands and teaching music. And Imogen herself enlisted in the Army Reserve Band in 2018, straight out of school, French horn in hand.
Before that, she was already a familiar musical presence close to home. At Albany Creek State High School, she regularly performed the Last Post and Reveille at school parades, which is a meaningful introduction to the kind of service she would go on to represent on a much larger stage.
Photo credit: RACQ
Having grown up in a musical family, Imogen said performing at something as huge as the Tattoo felt like a dream come true.
For Bill, watching his daughter step into the same world he had devoted his career to was a genuine pleasure, and made all the more special by the fact that she had even managed to outrank him along the way.
Bill said the shared passion for both the Army and music made their bond especially meaningful, and that as a parent it had been a real pleasure watching her take to it and seeing how much she enjoyed it.
The Suncorp Stadium hosted the production across four nights, with the Tattoo marking its first and exclusive Queensland run. For the Barker family, what began as a planned night out in the audience became something far more memorable, a shared performance between a father and daughter, in front of a home crowd, at a show neither of them will ever forget.
Construction is underway on an expansion of the all abilities playground at Leslie Patrick Park in Arana Hills, a facility also used by families from nearby Albany Creek.
The upgrade will introduce a new play area aimed at supporting children and adults with low or no vision and other sensory needs. Works began in February 2026 and are expected to continue for approximately eight weeks, weather permitting.
Extending A 2019 Playground Milestone
The inclusive playground at Leslie Patrick Park opened in late 2019 and was identified as the first of its kind in South East Queensland. The current works will connect an additional play section to the existing playground.
Planning for the expansion followed consultation with speech pathologists, occupational therapists, access consultants and park users with lived experience. A community engagement day was also held with children and parent volunteers from Vision Australia.
Photo Credit: City of Moreton Bay/Facebook
New Accessibility Features
The added play space will feature a braille trail, pavement art, a beehive cubby, a sensory hangout area, a vibration post, overhead optic sensory panels and a picnic shelter. A social media update about the project also referred to gardens with sensory plants as part of the design.
The upgrade has been reported as a $500,000 Local Community Infrastructure project.
Photo Credit: City of Moreton Bay/Facebook
Community Suggestions Raised Online
Comments shared online in response to the announcement included calls for increased shade over play areas and the addition of another toddler swing.
Construction continues at Leslie Patrick Park in Arana Hills, with the expanded facility expected to provide additional inclusive play options for local families.
The Carers Foundation Australia, in collaboration with Brendale businessman Mike Arieni and Solar Bollard Lighting, runs the Josh Arieni Legacy program to honour unpaid family and community carers by granting them an experience of their choice to rest, rejuvenate and feel genuinely appreciated for the work they do.
The program was established in 2023 in memory of Mike’s son Josh, who cared for his grandmother for several years before his death in a car accident in 2020. Josh Arieni was born in 1992 and was known for his kindness and compassion. Mike worked with The Carers Foundation to create a legacy that reflected those qualities, focusing on carers who give without recognition and rarely ask for help.
Photo Credit: The Carers Foundation
About The Carers Foundation Australia
The Carers Foundation Australia was established in 2015 under the leadership of founders Ronnie and Michael Benbow, delivering wellbeing programmes for unpaid family carers across Queensland and beyond. The organisation runs carer wellbeing retreats, wellness days and annual Christmas lunches across the Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, Moreton Bay, Brisbane and beyond, with each event attended by approximately 80 or more carers. All carers at Christmas lunches receive gift bags, recognising that many will not receive gifts on the day due to their caring responsibilities.
Photo Credit: Rhubarb Photography
The Carers Foundation sits within a broader context of significant unpaid care across Australia. Hundreds of thousands of Australians provide full-time unpaid care for family members, saving the health system billions of dollars annually while receiving little to no government support. Young unpaid carers number in the hundreds of thousands, with some as young as eight caring for a sick parent or sibling.
What the Josh Arieni Legacy Program Does
Each year, Mike Arieni dedicates funding through Solar Bollard Lighting, alongside contributions from supporters, to grant a small number of carers an experience of their choice. Community members, family or support workers can nominate a carer they know, or carers can nominate themselves, through The Carers Foundation website. Recipients receive a fully funded experience tailored to what they most need.
Past recipients have included George, who cared for his ageing mother while managing his own health challenges and fulfilled a lifelong ambition to complete a camel trek through outback South Australia. Samantha, who cared for her mother and uncle around the clock and had reached a breaking point, attended a five-day writers retreat that allowed her to reconnect with a creative life she had set aside.
Louise, a sole carer for more than two decades for her son who lives with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, spent two nights at Hastings Street, Noosa, and enjoyed a pamper day at a day spa. Bob and Val, who have cared for their daughter for more than 55 years following her birth with significant disabilities, received a five-night stay at Golden Beach. Anne, the mother of two boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy both requiring 24-hour care seven days a week, fulfilled her dream of visiting Sea World and swimming with dolphins.
John and Anna, the couple referenced in the source article, are among those receiving a gift this year through the program — a weekend away to recharge, which John described as something the couple was unaccustomed to but deeply needed after years of balancing full-time work with full-time caring responsibilities.
How to Nominate or Support the Program
Nominations for the Josh Arieni Legacy program are open to the public. Community members wanting to nominate a carer can do so through the nomination form at thecarersfoundation.org/josh-arieni-legacy. Those wishing to contribute financially to the program can donate at the same address. Solar Bollard Lighting, Mike Arieni’s Brendale business and the program’s founding supporter, is at solarbollardlighting.com. Further information about The Carers Foundation Australia’s full range of carer wellbeing programmes is at thecarersfoundation.org.
Dr Yi Pu, locally known as Dr Terry, has won Australian Young Dentist of the Year at the 2025 Australian Dentistry Awards, strengthening his reputation as one of the country’s rising leaders in oral health. The founder of Platypus Dental in Strathpine, he is a familiar face to thousands of patients across Brisbane’s north, with his practice also named a national finalist for New Practice of the Year at the same ceremony.
The awards were presented at a gala ceremony at Melbourne Town Hall on 9 December 2025, drawing nominees and finalists from across the country in the inaugural year of the Australian Dentistry Awards. For the Strathpine community, the national recognition confirms what many patients have known for some time: the practice at 5/32 Dixon Street is doing something measurably different from the dental industry around it, and the profession has now taken formal notice.
A Deliberate Departure from the Corporate Path
Dr Terry graduated from the University of Queensland in 2015 and launched Platypus Dental in Strathpine, building it from scratch at a time when the received wisdom in dental education was that independent practice ownership was a diminishing proposition. The rapid corporatisation of the Australian dental industry across the 2010s had concentrated market share in large group practices, and many graduates were advised to seek employment within those structures rather than invest in building something of their own.
Dr Terry chose a different path. He built Platypus Dental around a model centred on transparency, longer consultations, ethical procurement and team culture, believing that patients who encounter that approach become the most reliable source of growth any practice can have. The practice has grown from zero to more than 2,000 patients and runs consistently fully booked weeks in advance, a result that reflects sustained community trust rather than marketing spend.
That philosophy extends to how Dr Terry approaches the economics of running a practice. When health professional support staff wage increases came into effect in January 2026 under the Health and Allied Services award, Platypus Dental responded by absorbing the additional cost rather than passing it on to patients, committing to hold treatment fees steady until at least June 2027. Dr Terry reduced his own income to make the commitment workable, describing it as a straightforward expression of where Platypus Dental places its priorities.
What the Award Recognises
The Australian Young Dentist of the Year award, presented by Australasian Dentist magazine, recognises practitioners who combine clinical excellence with a broader positive impact on their profession and community. The New Practice of the Year finalist recognition sits alongside it as an acknowledgement that Platypus Dental has not simply delivered strong individual outcomes but built an organisation that operates with genuine coherence between its stated values and its daily practice.
Platypus Dental holds accreditation from the Quality Innovation Performance framework, carries membership of the Australian Society of Implant Dentistry and the International Congress of Oral Implantologists, and operates as a Guided Biofilm Therapy certified clinic. It uses Australian-made dental materials wherever possible and supports local suppliers. Dr Terry is currently completing a Master of Business Administration at the University of Melbourne alongside his clinical work, deepening his leadership capability as the practice grows.
Photo Credit: Google Maps
For Dr Terry, the recognition matters because of what it signals about the model itself: that a purpose-driven, independently owned practice built on transparency and ethical care can compete at a national level against well-resourced competitors, and that the communities that support that kind of practice are making the right call.
Serving Brisbane’s North
Platypus Dental serves patients from Strathpine, Albany Creek, Petrie, Brendale, Lawnton, Warner and across Brisbane’s northern corridor. The practice offers general dentistry, dental implants, All-on-X full mouth reconstruction, clear aligners, wisdom tooth extraction, Airflow dental spa treatments, teeth whitening and sedation. It accepts all health funds and holds preferred provider status with a number of major funds.
Bookings can be made at platypusdental.com.au or by calling (07) 3881 2887. The practice operates Monday to Friday with extended hours and is located at 5/32 Dixon Street, Strathpine.
The Brisbane Entertainment Centre at Boondall has marked 40 years of operation on 20 February 2026, having welcomed more than 19 million people through its doors across 2,875 events since opening night in 1986, and holding a Billboard Magazine ranking as the number one venue in Oceania and ninth in the world for its capacity category.
Four decades after ice skaters Torvill and Dean performed to a sold-out crowd of 10,000 on opening night, the entertainment centre that transformed what was a 64-hectare paddock in Boondall into Brisbane’s most significant indoor entertainment destination reaches its milestone in stronger shape than at any point in its history. The venue has delivered record-breaking years since emerging from the pandemic, and with Linkin Park, Mumford and Sons, Hilltop Hoods, Guy Sebastian and the Harlem Globetrotters all booked across the coming months, 2026 is already shaping as another standout year.
For the communities of Boondall, Nudgee, Zillmere, Carseldine and Albany Creek that have grown up around the venue across four decades, the entertainment centre has been a constant presence, a place where first concerts, family outings, school excursions and unforgettable nights out have accumulated across generations.
From Paddock to Global Top Ten
The 64-hectare Boondall site was first announced in 1983 as part of Brisbane’s Bicentenary Project and a broader push to strengthen the city’s bid for the 1992 Olympic Games. Brisbane architect Jacob de Vries designed the building in a star shape, although builders ultimately constructed only two of the four points. Watkins Pacific, now known as Watpac, completed the venue ahead of schedule at a cost of $71 million. The centre opened on 20 February 1986, with Torvill and Dean performing to a first-night crowd of 10,000, and ten additional shows attracting more than 100,000 people during the opening season alone.
The ticket prices that night were $22.90 for adults and $15.90 for children. Forty years later, the entertainment centre holds a Billboard Magazine ranking as the best venue in Oceania and ninth globally in the 10,001 to 15,000 seat capacity category, a standing that reflects both the quality of its production infrastructure and the strength of Brisbane’s live entertainment market.
Six employees from the original 1986 team still work at the venue today. Queensland Leisure took on management of the entertainment centre just one month before it opened and has remained involved for four decades. The company now operates the venue under the Legends Global banner, formerly known as ASM Global, following a major international merger. Two of the original board members from 1986 remain connected to the operation.
The Acts, the Records, the Moments
The entertainment centre’s 40-year program has spanned international headliners including Prince, Michael Jackson, David Bowie, Elton John, Metallica and Madonna alongside homegrown artists including Cold Chisel, Kylie Minogue, Keith Urban, Paul Kelly and Powderfinger, as well as family productions including Les Misérables, Disney on Ice and The Wiggles.
P!NK holds the record as the venue’s most frequent performer with 32 shows, including 11 in a single year in 2009. Metallica drew the largest single crowd in the venue’s history, with 14,454 fans in attendance in 2010. The entertainment centre has handled some of the heaviest touring productions in the industry, including How to Train Your Dragon which weighed 98 tonnes, and has accommodated as many as 35 trucks for a single show. From Leonard Cohen performing at 79 years old to JoJo Siwa taking the stage at 17, the venue has genuinely spanned generations of artists and audiences.
Photo Credit: Google Maps
Beyond concerts, the entertainment centre has been woven into Brisbane’s broader civic life in ways no one planned. It also operated as a mass vaccination hub during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 and later served as a sandbag depot ahead of Cyclone Alfred in 2025. Producers filmed all three series of the original Australian Gladiators there in 1995, and organisers staged the Lions International Convention at the site. Over the years, the centre has also hosted conferences, gala dinners, religious conventions and trade shows, drawing millions more visitors beyond its ticketed events.
Meanwhile, the Sports Centre at the entertainment centre, which opened in 1997, has hosted approximately seven million people of its own. Boondall Railway Station opened in 1986 specifically to support access to the venue, and the 4,000-space supervised car park remains one of the largest single-venue parking facilities in Brisbane’s north.
A Full Circle Moment and What Comes Next
In one of the more poetic turns of the anniversary year, Torvill and Dean, who opened the entertainment centre on its very first night in 1986, returned to perform multiple shows in 2025, bringing the venue’s first four decades to a close in the company of the artists who began them.
The 40-day anniversary celebration running from 20 February includes a competition offering four groups of ten people the chance to attend an event of their choice across the next year, with entry by sharing a favourite entertainment centre memory on the venue’s Facebook page. Tickets must be used by 1 April 2027, and VIP parking, drinks and snacks are included for each winning group.
Upcoming shows at the entertainment centre include Linkin Park on 3 and 5 March, Hilltop Hoods, MGK, Mumford and Sons, Jimmy Carr, Carl Barron and the Harlem Globetrotters. The full event schedule and competition details are available at brisent.com.au.
Kim Lunt, Manager of Brendale-based Compassionate Funerals Queensland, is stepping into a very different kind of spotlight. The local community figure will take to the stage as the only Moreton Bay representative among this year’s Singing Heroes at the upcoming Unsung Heroes Gala, supporting the Carers Foundation and its Unsung Legacy Program.
The program is working to build long-term, sustainable support for Australia’s unpaid carers, including what would be the country’s first dedicated carers wellbeing centre, planned for the City of Moreton Bay.
Kim admits the invitation caught her off guard and frightened her. As someone who has never performed publicly and doesn’t consider herself a singer, she says the prospect was daunting, but insists the cause is far bigger than her fear.
Kim’s Campaign for the Unsung Heroes
Kim has set herself a fundraising goal of $20,000, with every dollar going directly toward the Carers Foundation’s Unsung Legacy Program. The program is focused on expanding respite services and establishing a dedicated wellbeing hub, a physical space where unpaid carers can access support, rest and connection, and one that would be the first of its kind in Australia.
She has less than six weeks to prepare for her performance, and in that time she’ll also be out across Moreton Bay meeting with local businesses and seeking sponsorships to help reach her target. It’s a big ask, but one she is committed to seeing through.
Kim believes that if the wellbeing hub is to become a reality locally, it will take the whole community standing together to make it happen. As for what she’ll be singing? That’s under wraps for now. She’s sworn to secrecy on the song choice, but has hinted at a touch of country charm and a little sparkle on the night.
Kim says that if carers can show up every single day for someone else, the least she can do is face her nerves on a stage for a few minutes. For her, courage comes down to saying yes when it would be far easier to say no.
A Career Built on Compassion
Photo credit: Compassionate Funerals Queensland
Kim has spent more than 25 years working alongside families during some of life’s hardest moments. As Manager of Compassionate Funerals Queensland, she has supported families with dignity and respect through some of their hardest chapters. The not-for-profit funeral service she leads donates all surplus funds to charity, and has already returned more than $7 million to community causes.
Through that work, she has seen firsthand how demanding and exhausting caring for others can be. Kim notes that unpaid carers shoulder a full-time responsibility that weighs heavily on them physically, mentally and emotionally, and that burnout and isolation are far too common among those in caring roles.
Rooted in the Moreton Bay Community
Beyond her professional life, Kim is thoroughly embedded in the fabric of this region. She’s a proud mum to Emily and Jaidyn, wife to Jarrod, and devoted owner of dogs Kingsley and Camilla. When she’s not at work, you’re likely to find her out on Moreton Bay with a fishing line in the water, at the beach, or cheering on her beloved Dolphins in the NRL and the Swans in the AFL.
That deep connection to the Moreton Bay community sits at the heart of why she put her hand up for this campaign. The wellbeing centre Kim is helping to fund wouldn’t just be a resource for carers across Australia — it would be right here, in the community she calls home. Kim has spoken about the quiet, relentless dedication of unpaid carers, and her belief that the broader community has a role to play in supporting them.
Kim’s fundraising page is live now, and locals are encouraged to get behind her before gala night. Whether it’s a small donation or sharing her page with family and friends, every bit of support counts toward building something lasting for carers right here in Moreton Bay.
