Editorial: Telethon always has and always will be all for the kids

WA, you’ve done it again.

Another record fundraising amount for Telethon, in this its 59th iteration, underpinned all the way by a proud, happy and incredibly generous State.

From philanthropic heavyweights like the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation donating $10 million to the kids serving homemade lemonade as a kerbside fundraiser, Telethon pulls WA together at every level for one special cause.

It always has, and always will be, all about the children.

This year, we’ve heard and read the stories of great need.

Little Olive, whose beautiful face adorned the front page of The West Australian on Saturday, with her life of endless and exhausting seizures every day gripping our every giving emotion.

And we’ve all been inspired.

Bubba Kaio Rerekura - a five-year-old force; a “warrior princess” who has a ferocious right kick in mixed martial arts — using a leg almost lost to sepsis — and who can swim like a fish with just one lung.

Her story in The West Australian would have motivated many West Australians to give generously.

Her mum’s powerful address on the Telethon Ball stage to a generous audience of philanthropists, politicians and business leaders literally worth millions.

And for several weeks, we have been delighted to get to know the personalities of this year’s trio of Little Telethon Stars, Aiden, Olivia and Page. Three very different individuals brought together to unite a State’s generosity in the lead-up to our biggest annual weekend of giving.

What a success that has been.

We should all be immensely proud of the giving and support that made Telethon 2026 another record breaker on all levels.

Telethon is testament to an entire State maintaining a moral compass of generosity and philanthropy pointed in exactly the right direction.

Only this time the rest of Australia accepted the invitation to enjoy and support what we know and love as the greatest fundraiser of its kind in the world.

Every year there is great pride in the generosity of Western Australians, followed by the obligatory self-examination: “how could we possibly top that?”.

The answer and opportunity could very much come from opening the door to 25 million potential converts to the cause living east of the Nullabor.

It has always been a popular event for interstate-based tv stars and personalities to support, but televised nationally on Channel 7 for the first time, Telethon has now made its way into the hearts, minds and wallets of families across the country.

As WA-bred Sunrise presenter Nat Barr discovered during a stint in the Telethon call centre yesterday.

“I was in the phone room, and a call came through from someone from Victoria,” she said.“ They said, ‘We just turned on Channel 7 and saw this Telethon thing,’ and then they asked me how long it had been going.

“I said, ‘Oh, about 59 years!’

“They donated money, and then I also had someone from New South Wales donate and I was like, ‘Hang on a minute — this is great’.”

Well done, WA. And well done Aiden, Olivia and Paige — wonderful ambassadors for the children of WA who stand to benefit most for the weekend of generosity.

Responsibility for the editorial comment is taken by Editor-in-Chief Christopher Dore