Page 2479 - Week 08 - Thursday, 6 August 2015
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war. It took many lives, and the legacy continues to this day. It is a reminder to all of us of the necessity of nuclear disarmament and the need to strive for peace, even in this day and age.
Landcare ACT
MS LAWDER (Brindabella) (4.23): Earlier this year, on 13 June, I managed to attend the launch of Landcare ACT. Many of you would have heard of Landcare. In the ACT Landcare are an independent peak body for community land care. They address issues including soil degradation, animal pests, weeds, vegetation loss, stream bank erosion, water quality and urban land degradation. As the new peak body, Landcare ACT’s membership will include the diversity of land carers in the ACT, such as catchment groups, rural landholders and Aboriginal traditional custodians.
I was pleased to learn that there are more than 60 groups in the ACT region, about 1,500 individuals, who undertake Landcare activities. That includes urban landcare, parkcare groups, rural, junior and Aboriginal landcare groups and waterwatch and frogwatch volunteers.
I thank Glenys Patulny for inviting me to launch Landcare ACT and for their worthwhile work. I look forward to seeing them continue to make a difference in our region. Also at the launch was the north Belconnen junior landcare band, who played as people gathered. We heard from the CEO of the national Landcare network and Landcare New South Wales. People from TAMS and the environment department were there and a number of other catchment management groups et cetera.
We went for a walk up on the hill, planted some trees, and it was a fabulous event. They even had a really fantastic cake decorated with native animals and plants. Once again, congratulations to everyone involved and well done to Landcare ACT on taking their first steps towards providing an umbrella body for landcare groups within the ACT.
Australian Labor Party—national conference
MS FITZHARRIS (Molonglo) (4.26): I rise today to talk about the achievements of the recent 47th national conference of the Australian Labor Party. I had the privilege of attending the conference and giving the ACT an important voice on the major policy issues we discussed, ranging from the environment, to marriage equality, to equal opportunities for women. We are a democratic party. We are a party that has its debates in the public eye, and we are a party that is open to contributions from people of all backgrounds.
Looking at the hundreds of observers you did not just see Labor members; you saw a wide range of progressive activists and interested people wanting to see democracy in action. When Bill Shorten made his opening speech, when we discussed the tough issues of immigration and when we moved forward with our commitment to marriage equality, the conference hall was packed with hundreds of people there to hear what Labor stands for. We are able to discuss the tough issues in public because that is
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