There are so many people in our community who are doing great things and who are helping to make great things happen.

The list is only a sample and people are encouraged to suggest others.

Let’s acknowledge the people who help to make our community the great place it is.

Today, we look at our business and community greats. From entrepreneur Trevor St Baker to LGBTIQ campaigner Shelley Argent, our area is packed with dedicated and successful people.

Tomorrow, in our last instalment, we look at our academic greats.

KAREN DARE

You don’t have to be disadvantaged to know all about the good work of Communify.

Its presence is everywhere across the westside, no small thanks to CEO Karen Dare.

The 2001 Centenary Medal and Brisbane Australia Day Award winner, who lives in Paddington, has worked with Communify for more than 25 years and seen it grow from a small neighbourhood centre with limited resources to the thriving multi-service hub that it is today.

Ms Dare works with the Communify management team to develop services and programs that support people from the homeless to the disabled and elderly, as well as a host of not-for-profit groups.

Even though she’s the CEO, she is often still the one making calls on the front line to find a bed in a hostel for a client, collecting donations, or working with emerging community groups.

Outside Communify, Ms Dare has served on the boards of several prominent community groups and committees including 4Walls Housing Company, Suncorp Stadium Advisory Committee and the Building Services Authority.

TREVOR ST BAKER

For a man who made his money in coal, it is telling that ERM Power founder Trevor St Baker loves showing visitors to his St Lucia home his rooftop solar panels, gas-fuelled generator and electric Tesla car.

These days he is also well known for backing Tritium, which is developing electric car fast-charging technology.

The entrepreneur has pumped more than $50 million into the St Baker Energy Innovation Fund, which invests in everything from electric vehicle charging systems to smart energy devices.

But St Baker, who founded Australia’s fourth largest power retailer, built a 60-year career in an industry fuelled by coal and gas.

Born in a working class Sydney suburb, he was bright enough to enter a selective high school before winning a full scholarship to study engineering at university.

He moved to Brisbane in 1970 to help reform Queensland’s antiquated power supply system but later left “in a huff’’ after missing out on a top bureaucratic role.

He set up his own electricity consultancy, which eventually became ERM Power.

Mr St Baker now has a personal fortune estimated at $76 million.

Awarded an Order of Australia, he enjoys playing a mentoring role to young executives at innovative start-ups.

SHELLEY ARGENT

She is not just a mum, she is a campaigner.

The Gap’s Shelley Argent wrote the book Just A Mum about her experiences after her son James came out as gay in 1995.

“THERE are times parents should stand behind their child, other times they should stand beside them, but this was my time to stand in front of James and fight for his right to be seen as an equal,” she wrote.

She noted that James, then the Queensland Police Service’s youngest sergeant, had fewer rights than the people he locked up.

The powerful book recounts her childhood in a poor, dysfunctional 1950s Brisbane family to recent times when she went on to disrupt the highest echelons of Australia’s social and political establishments.

Her journey as a campaigner for equal rights resulted in her receiving an OAM in 2006 and took her to places and people she could have never imagined in her Brisbane childhood.

She has a been regular visitor to Canberra’s politicians and enjoyed marching in the Mardi Gras.

CLIVE PALMER

Love him or loathe him, just like Donald Trump, nobody can be ambivalent about Clive Palmer. And everyone has heard of him.

The multi-millionaire iron ore magnate became a part of the westside community after buying former Linc Energy boss Peter Bond’s Rivergum Retreat mansion at Fig Tree Pocket last year for a reputed $7.5 million.

He also hit the headlines locally after a car crash outside Kenmore Tavern last year, when his long list of traffic infringements was aired in court.

Another time, a startled council bus driver was flagged down by Palmer waving a $50 note. He told a radio station his car had broken down on Waterworks Rd and he had no change.

It has been a big year in the headlines, even by his standards.

The creator of the Palmer United Party and one-time MP for Fairfax revived his party after deregistering it in 2017.

He then spent an estimated $50 million in advertising at this year’s federal election.

His party won no Lower House of Senate spots, but he claimed his real goal was to have denied Labor victory.

Earlier this month, he caved in to the demands of liquidators and agreed to pay $110 million to creditors of his ­collapsed Queensland Nickel ­refinery, after years of insisting he was not responsible.

SCOTT HUTCHINSON

Born in Fig Tree Pocket, where he spent the first 33 years of his life, construction industry boss Scott Hutchinson later moved to Graceville where he stayed for another 18 years.

Although he now lives in Kangaroo Point, it was because of a property deal too good to refuse and he insists the westside is in his blood.

The Australian head office of the company is in Toowong and many of its philanthropic activities are in the area.

One of those, Second Shot, employs homeless and disadvantaged people, providing them with the opportunity to gain work experience and financial stability.

“We gave them carte blanche to (sell coffees) at all of our sites,’’ Mr Hutchinson said.

“We also have a very successful indigenous department which has given not just training, but jobs, to 350 people. That’s dragged 350 families out of often very difficult circumstances.’’

“Hutchies’’, as the 107-year-old company is known to its family of workers, donates about $3 million each year to various charities.

“I don’t have a plane or boats or expensive things. My only interests are music and pinball machines – I have 40 or 50, some designed by top-end Aboriginal artists,’’ he said.

Mr Hutchinson, the fourth generation to run the business, was so devastated when his “temple’’, Festival Hall, was knocked down, he took a huge loss to build the Triffid after members of Powderfinger approached him for help.

Last month, after teaming up with Powderfinger bassist John Collins, he opened a replacement for Festival Hall, large music venue Fortitude Music Hall.

He could have made millions developing the site, but wanted to reverse the global trend where units have replaced live music venues.

Hutchinson was recently named Corporate Philanthropist of the Year at the annual Queensland Philanthropy Week awards.

“If you do good things in the community, good things will start to happen to you,’’ Mr Hutchinson said.

JULIAN SIMMONDS

Brisbane’s youngest-ever Treasurer, Julian Simmonds, is now one of Australia’s youngest federal MPs.

Regarded as a rising star, he could in coming years be the next Member for Ryan to serve in a federal ministry.

In his final speech to council in March, Mr Simmonds recalled there were “not many jobs that would give a 26-year-old the chance to help manage a $3 billion dollar budget”.

A born and bred westsider, the Taringa local paid tribute to his upbringing in the area in his maiden speech last month.

Elected to Brisbane City Council at a by-election in 2010, he represented Walter Taylor ward for the LNP. He was re-elected in 2012 and 2016.

Mr Simmonds served as chair of three committees: public and active transport; finance, economic development and administration; and the powerful city planning committee.

He announced last year that he would not fight the council election, next March, and would instead run for the federal seat of Ryan.

He had to overcome veteran sitting MP Jane Prentice in a bruising preselection battle that made national headlines.

With the help of wife, Madeline, who ran his well-drilled campaign, he won Ryan despite a small swing against the LNP.

Mr Simmonds often posts on Facebook about his son Theodore, 2, who was born after the couple’s 10-year struggle with fertility issues, something he referred to in his maiden speech.

DON O’RORKE

Brookfield’s Don O’Rorke is a byword in the Queensland property industry, steering big, transformative projects like Yeerongpilly Green in Brisbane’s inner-south.

As a founding member of Consolidated Properties Group, he successfully shaped the business over 40 years to its current $2.3 billion development pipeline.

He insists on strong values in his business and building sound and lasting relationships with stakeholders and business partners.

But he is also well known for encouraging a fun working culture and is a supporter of women in the workforce, as well as work-life balance.

Ranked number three on The Courier-Mail’s 2018 Top 10 Property List and number 66 on the Top 100 Influencers List, he is also a proud philanthropist.

His board positions are as diverse as his interests in life: Surfing Australia; the Reserve Bank Small Business Finance Advisory Panel; Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce Advisory Board; and The Old Museum (Brisbane) Advisory Board.

He was made an Honorary Life Member of Surfing Australia in 2017 for service to the organisation since 2003 and has been a Board Member of Surfing Australia for 12 years.

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