Leading the affirmative was world champion debater, barrister and all round genius Greg O’Mahoney who was ably supported by Virginia Gay from Winners & Losers and Richard Glover, ABC’s Friday Drive Time host, who certainly argued from the heart as well as his personal experience! The negative team was led by Annette Shun Wah who recently produced Asian Australian performances at Belvoir St Theatre.

Annette was supported by Dan Ilic of Hungry Beast fame and Rob Carlton, aka the young Kerry Packer in the ABC’s resounding success “Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo”. Rob’s performance was outstanding he managed to insult every middle aged white man in the room but win the audiences’ respect and admiration to secure a win for the negative on the night!

The evening commenced with 6 students from Fort Street Public, one of our Book Bank Schools, who enthralled the guests. Guest speaker was Mr Jesmond Zammit, Assistant Principal Ettalong Public School who spoke about the impact Book Bank was having at his school. The evening ran smoothly with the continued support from our Westpac Volunteers who are all well versed in the proceedings.

The evening ran smoothly with the continued support from our Westpac Volunteers who are all well versed in the proceedings.

The following sponsors were acknowledged the on the night with a special “Duck Trophy”: Principal (Platinum): Abbey Bridal/Maggie Sottero; Year: CBA, Eureka FM, Macquarie and Class: Bank of Cyprus, Exto Partners, gifts.com.au, Harper Collins, NAB, Norton Rose, Pan Macmillan & Pottinger. We are also very grateful for the continued support of the donations of luxury goods and experiences for our live and silent auctions.

The event was a resounding success with just under $145,000 raised on the night. These funds will help us to further develop the Book Bank project and reach more schools in need across Australia.

Jacquie Stratford, Managing Director