Page 337 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 7 March 2007
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part. If we can do it, it also shows the community that we care about these things. I know that all of us in this place do care about this sort of issue—though maybe not quite as much as Mr Cornwell would have cared about it; I know that he is still out there picking up pieces of rubbish and taking his plastic bag on his morning walks.
We all care about it; it is important that we get involved in it and continue to educate the community about why it is important not to put rubbish down in the first place. Hopefully, by educating our young people about this through the Schools Clean Up Day initiative and encouraging the young people who go along to Clean Up Australia Day, we will find that they will feel less inclined to go about littering in the first place.
Mrs Erin Mills
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (6.16): Mr Speaker, I—
Mr Barr: You are going to talk about the buses, are you not?
MRS DUNNE: No, actually, I will not talk about buses. I am using the adjournment debate to speak briefly on a sombre note, and that is the recent passing of Mrs Erin Mills, who was a great pillar of the Canberra community. When I first came to Canberra in 1979, one of the first people I met, through St Christopher’s parish and a number of other organisations, was Erin Mills and her splendid husband, Reg. Erin and Reg were great pillars of the church at St Christopher’s and, before that, St Bede’s in Red Hill.
Erin’s contribution to Canberra society was one of those quiet things, but any of us who knew Erin saw a saintly lady, a woman of incredible compassion and kindness who never had a harsh word for anyone and who was always available to share the troubles of people around her. She was a great supporter of the Mother Theresa nuns, both here in the ACT region and in their home convents in India, and she drew inspiration from Mother Theresa’s teachings and guidance, which she implemented in her life every day.
Erin was a great supporter of life and a great supporter of the people who were faced by adversity through their pregnancies. For all the years that I knew her, and for many years before that, she was a great stalwart of Pregnancy Support Services in the ACT and a great stalwart and supporter of Karinya House. As members would know, the second house that Karinya House opened, which is their step-down facility, was called Erin House in testament to a truly saintly woman who was a credit to everyone.
It was a privilege to have known Erin and to have been a confidante of her and her family. I express my condolences and the condolences of my family to her surviving sons at the passing of a wonderful woman whose presence will be missed in Canberra.
Mrs Jean Salisbury OAM
St Vincent de Paul Society
MR MULCAHY (Molonglo) (6.19): Tonight I would like to comment on two events that I have attended recently and to congratulate the people involved. On 6 February, I was privileged to attend the launch of the published transcribed records of World
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