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$71.4m: Telethon breaks another staggering record

It had a conga line by Manu, Kerry Stokes as a dance critic and the PM confronted by a grandad in a mankini -but WA still dug deep for the annual Telethon.

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Congrats to all involved in Seven’s annual Telethon which broke records with a massive $71,356,721 for West Australian children and families in need.

Amongst some of the more unusual features of the marathon 26 hour broadcast, Manu Feildel leading aonga line through the phone room and getting shirtless for a donation, PM Anthony Albanese confronted by a grandfather in a mankini (“I can’t unsee that!”), and a Backstreet Boys tribue by Matt Shirvington, Luke Hodge, Charlie Albone, Rick Ardon and Peter Ford -with Seven Chair Kerry Stokes turned dance critic insisting on “more energy!”

Stokes also said former Channel 7 executive Brian Treasure deserved great credit for his “creative genius” that laid the foundations for the Telethon juggernaut.

He said he continued to be extremely proud of West Australians for their commitment to giving and said decisions by former prime minster Kevin Rudd and Premier Mark McGowan to make significant annual Telethon donations had become key components of the fundraising mission.

“It’s had several lives and I’m pretty blown away, actually,” Mr Stokes said.

Source: West Australian

9 Responses

  1. Once again, a fantastic achievement and it was fantastic to have that community spirit.

    It was nice to see them bring back some old traditions which they’d previously dropped of like the conga line and the cream pie splat.

    The only thing I did notice was less of a focus on regional. No trip out to Bunbury and I didn’t see anyone from 7 News Regional (GWN 7 News) in the broadcast.

  2. Watched a bit of it on 7plus catch up and thought it was absolutely wonderful telethon TV. Perth really putting to shame Melbourne’s Good Friday Appeal. Like chalk and cheese in fact. Seems like 7 Melbourne have lost interest and just whack on a couple of footballers and pass it off as entertainment compared to the energy and joy 7 Perth put in? Can’t help but wonder is it because Stokes is Perth based? There was just this sense of joy watching all the kids from Perth’s local dance studios perform with such big smiles on their faces and obviously an infectious good time for the audience watching at home judging by the amount of money raised. I’d lost hope and thought Australia had forgotten how to make wholesome family friendly good fun TV. After seeing how well Perth can still do it perhaps the networks should take some funding back from the Sydney and Melbourne shows and let Perth have a go!

  3. Not much deception going on when every one of those corporate donations is aired live on TV with a cheque handed over by someone from the company. Even accounting for those donations, it’s an impressive amount from the public.

    1. Absolutely. The corporate ones I understand, the question is whether some of the others are effectively regifting charity donations from one charity to another. Not unusual of course for bigger charities to donate to smaller ones to fund specific schemes, or for charities to work together. Possible too that smaller charities have done fundraising in the name of the Telethon knowing the brand will bring in a higher value of donations.

      As for governments they reannounce money all the time.

      1. Over $70 million made for charity in phenomenal.
        Well done to the hundreds of people involved in creating this massive event year after year.
        More than 24 hours of Live TV. Wow!

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