Variety - the Children's Charity and their business netork, Suits Club was pleased to host their first event for 2012. On Thursday 9th February 2012, this lunch featured Variety Ambassador and ‘The Human Headline’ Derryn Hinch. Derryn is a long term supporter of Variety and helping sick, disadvantaged and children with special needs. This was Derryn’s first corporate function for Melbourne’s business community, since his controversial detention.
The year 2010 was a big one for Derryn Hinch, both personally and professionally. In January, he passed a milestone. He celebrated his 50 years as a journalist. In September, he was diagnosed with liver cancer and told he had only 12 months to live unless he received a donor organ. The year 2011 proved to be an even bigger one. Especially the month of July when on July 6, with only a few weeks to live, he received a life-saving liver transplant.
Two weeks later, he sat in a Melbourne courtroom to be sentenced to five months under house arrest for breaching suppression orders and naming two serial child sex offenders at a “Name Them and Shame Them” rally on the steps of Parliament House and also via his old hinch.net website.
For 153 days he was banned from leaving his house except for medical appointments. Banned from broadcasting his radio program and prohibited from using Twitter, emails, Facebook, granting interviews or having any contact with journalists.
Now he is back and doing what he does best: breaking news, sometimes making news and expressing his opinions on issues across the street and across the world and hoping to make people think.
Variety Suits Club was established in 2002 for Variety to connect with the Victorian business community and an opportunity for like-minded business leaders to network. Past speakers have included Janet Holmes a Court, Bob Ansett, Stephen Mayne, Simon Overland, Fr. Bob Maguire, Julian Burnside QC, Bill Shorten MP and Simon McKeon.
Thank you to all those who attended and for supporting Variety to empower children who are sick, disadvantaged or have special needs to live, laugh and learn.