Stars pitch in to help struggling farmers
SOME of the biggest names in Australian music will descend on Tamworth to raise muchneeded funds for droughtaffected farmers.
John Farnham headlines the Buy A Bale benefit concert, which will be broadcast as part of Channel 9’ s telethon.
Today Show’s Richard Wilkins and Today Extra’s Sonia Kruger and David Campbell will host the event, which will be broadcast live from Tamworth’s Scully Park.
Joining Farnham on the bill are Daryl Braithwaite, Guy Sebastian, The Veronicas, Jon Stevens, Andrew Farriss ( INXS), Adam Harvey, Tim Wheatley, Aleyce Simmonds and Nat Conway.
“Glenn Wheatley came to me a couple of months ago now and he had this idea for a concert in Tamworth,” Wilkins says.
“He’d done a bit of homework and he had John on board.
“I took it upstairs to the powers- that- be ( at Nine), and I was thrilled when they gave it the green light.
“I’ve been involved in a few things over the years and there’s no more generous industry. The music industry has a fine record for rallying around a good cause. Going back to Bob Geldof and Live Aid and all that. They realised the power of putting a big lineup together. We’ve got a lot of great talent giving their time.”
The benefit concert follows on from the $ 8.5 million already raised through the Today Show Farm Aid Telethon and Wilkins hopes viewers will dig deep once again.
“Obviously there have been major problems out in the heartland for years, but it seems the nation woke up to the whole thing six months ago,” Wilkins says.
“Suddenly we were all doing stories on TV, Karl ( Stefanovic) went on the road and we did the telethon down in Dubbo. It seems the nation’s conscience has been raised.
“We were just gobsmacked ... Australia is a land of very generous people.
“This problem is not one that’s going to go away any time soon.
“They need sustained rain. They need to feed their animals. We’ve got to get the wheels turning out there.”
>> The Hay Mate: Buy A Bale benefit concert and telethon airs on Saturday, October 27, at 7pm on Nine.