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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-02-09 Daily Xml
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Environmental Warrior Award

Ms HUTCHESSON (Waite) (15:34): Today, I would like to take the opportunity to talk about some of the outstanding young people we have in my electorate of Waite and the hope that this brings me for all of our futures. Looking after our environment is something that is important to me, and I feel that our kids are the future in this regard. They know more than I ever did as a young person about climate change, the importance of biodiversity, looking after our trees, recycling and composting.

Our teachers and parents do an amazing job of educating and fostering a real care for the environment, and I believe that it is worth supporting and celebrating. In order to do this, to recognise students who go above and beyond, who display outstanding care and consideration for the environment as well as passion for action on climate change, last year I established the Hutchesson Environmental Warrior Award for graduating Year 6 students.

I was really impressed by the group of students who were nominated by the schools. It was a difficult decision for St Peters Lutheran School in Blackwood, as they have a whole group of eco-warriors. They have Aleeia, Nevada, Charli, Abi, Thomas, Zac, Edan, Kayden, Charlotte, Luca, Sophie, Olivia, James, Sebastian, Callum, Annabelle, Abigail, Amelia, Stella, Amelie and Madeleine. This group of students are a committed bunch. They meet in their lunchtimes and do work to take care of the natural environment they have at St Peter's.

I heard all about their vegetable patch, their worm farm, their compost heap and also their chickens, who had sadly flown over the rainbow with a certain fox that had come to visit. They were all incredibly excited to be receiving the award, as it was too hard to pick a winner. I, too, was a winner when I went there, as they presented me with my own bottle of worm juice to take home.

At our other primary schools, there were more stories about the wonderful passion the award recipients had for looking after the environment. Patrick from Clapham Primary School was an eco-leader at school. He drives their Nude Food program and continues to check in to make sure everyone is doing their best to limit their use of plastic.

Jake from Bellevue Heights is very passionate about conservation and the importance of taking action. He was an active member of the Bellevue Heights park rangers leadership team, where he worked with a passion for greening the school. Each week he showed commitment to designing, planting and maintaining the school's national park, Warrara Yarta, which is Kaurna for healing ground. The park's purpose is to restore an area of land at the school back to its indigenous state.

At Blackwood Primary School, Kody was deemed to be a warrior. I really enjoyed meeting Kody, such a kind-spirited boy with a beautiful smile. He cares about climate change because, in his eyes, it is making the world a worse place to live in for people and it is slowly destroying creatures and their habitats. Kody believes that if climate change does not stop, everything in the world will become extinct. Kody is trying to help the environment by taking care of animals and bugs that are in and around his house and school. Kody will not hurt any bugs unless they are flies, because he says flies are useless.

Marley, from Coromandel Valley Primary School, is a member of the Native Bee and Butterfly Project. Marley always asks questions in a thirst for learning about the environment, and she is going to continue her passion, I am sure, starting at Urrbrae Agricultural High School this year. I hope that she enjoyed her first week.

Eden Hills Primary School is a beautiful school and they take the responsibility of nurturing young environmentalists seriously. Evelyn was their environmental warrior. She is passionate about composting and tried to drive this at Eden Hills. Sadly, snakes and rats did not make that easy. She is also gravely concerned that soft plastic recycling has ceased altogether.

At Scotch College primary school assembly, I had the honour of awarding Kishan an environmental warrior award. What an outstanding student. Over his time at primary school, he was the Green Team co-captain, vocally and actively campaigning for the environment and, in particular, reducing our waste and recycling scheme.

Annabelle was the winner at St John's Grammar School. I could tell by the reaction of the students that it was well deserved. From helping them set up a seed swap to getting out in the garden to weed and chat about plants, Annabelle was a well-deserved winner.

Kobi was chosen by her peers at Upper Sturt. She has a passion for being out in the bush and learning more about living creatures. Some of her friends said, 'Her affinity with the bush is just phenomenal, and she is a true bush kid.' Kobi also studied at Urrbrae this year, and I am sure that she and Marley will no doubt become the best of friends and share their passion.

Finally, Zara from my old primary school, Belair, had been involved in working in the canteen and eco-club, collecting and emptying recycling bins. She would often be found picking up rubbish in parks and helping to take care of the environment.

The future in Waite is bright. With students like these leading the way, I know our unique and special environment is in good hands. I look forward to having them all come along to parliament for a tour and lunch as part of their award and maybe get them thinking about a career in politics.

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