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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-03-15 Daily Xml
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CLEAN UP AUSTRALIA DAY

Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (15:20): On 4 March, I imagine that many members were joining with groups in their local communities to involve themselves in the 22nd Clean Up Australia Day, which I—

The Hon. C.C. Fox interjecting:

Mr GARDNER: Where were you member for Bright?

The Hon. C.C. Fox: I was at Hallett Cove with my son, Theo, who picked up a lot of rocks.

Mr GARDNER: Well, I am sure Theo's rock collection growing on the day is going to be a boon to your family for years to come. The member for Adelaide was just telling me how she was at Prospect helping clean up along Prospect Road near the library and somebody had dumped two cartons of tomatoes just outside their backyard. Unfortunately, some people do dump rubbish around the place.

Australia has been coming together for more than two decades to clean up our community. I want to pay particular tribute in these short moments today to the Clean Up Australia group, of course, headed up by a great Australian, Ian Kiernan, whom I have admired for many years, and in particular some of the groups who did some terrific work in Morialta over that weekend a couple of weeks ago.

I can report to the house that in 2012 more than 591,400 volunteers across Australia and, I am sure, including most members of this chamber, helped to celebrate the 22 years of Clean Up Australia by donning their gloves and filling up Clean Up Australia Day rubbish bags with 16,199 tonnes of rubbish at over 7,000 sites across Australia and over 300 sites in South Australia, and that is those who are registered with Clean Up Australia. I am aware of some groups that go out on Clean Up Australia Day without having registered and that is, of course, to be encouraged as well.

I do not think we need to get too bogged down in the bureaucracy just to clean up our patch. Nor do we need to just do it on the day, but it is helpful having this day that reminds us all that we have a responsibility to our communities to help make sure that our environment is held in high regard, respected and cleaned where possible. I note that Clean up the World weekend is held on the third weekend of September every year, with over 120 countries participating.

I will now pay tribute to Ian Kiernan. In 1991, Ian Kiernan was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia. The range of awards he has been presented over the years is significant. He was Australian of the Year in 1994 and was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in that year. He is a National Living Treasure, he is a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow, and he won a Centenary Medal. I note that in successive years in the Reader's Digest Most Trusted People poll he has been voted as one of our top five most trustworthy Australians, which is to be commended.

In the local area in Morialta, as I was going around on Sunday I was very pleased to see a number of great groups, including Inglesia Ni Cristo (the Church of Christ) who were working on Penfold Park and up at the Kensington Road lookout. They must have had a fantastic view on that warmish day. The Kiwanis Club of Athelstone cleaned Fifth Creek and Schulze Road in Athelstone. A couple of years ago, I was out with the Kiwanis Club of Athelstone doing an area just behind Gorge Road, and they always get a terrific group of volunteers along every year.

The Lions Club of Athelstone cleaned Ambers Gully car park, which was formerly the Torrens Valley area until it was renamed after Max Amber just last year in commemoration of his more than four decades of service to the Campbelltown council. He is a great South Australian and a former LGA state president and also an OAM. Agata Kocimska cleaned Olive Court Reserve. The Stradbroke Joey Scouts and the Campbelltown Rotary Club, of which I am proud to be a member, were both competing to help out on Silkes Road and Linear Park. It is a largish area, so there was room for both.

The Adelaide Hills Natural Resource Centre cleaned Old Norton Summit Road. I know that my constituents Ray and Jean White were very active in helping there, and they are great members of the community and support private bushland and the environmental efforts around Moores Road. The Morialta Residents Association, which is a terrific community group, had a focus on Morialta Conservation Park.

Clean Up Australia is an important initiative. It is the best sort of example of community activity coming from the grassroots and taking the nation and the world by storm. One idea from one person can make a significant difference to the world, and this is the sort of thing we should be commending when we have the opportunity, and I am pleased to do so today.

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