Page 907 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 9 March 2016
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Dramatic Society over many years; and the gold CAT award, Amy and Peter Copeland, for the contribution they made to theatre in Wollongong during 2015 in direction, choreography, puppet direction, set design, production management and technical direction.
I would like to express my gratitude to the businesses and individuals who sponsored the awards. Without their involvement, the CAT awards could not have been as successful as they have been for such a long time.
The efforts of the board and judges of the awards should also be acknowledged. They are all volunteers and generously donate their time and skills. Of course, thank you to the wonderful Ms Coralie Wood OAM. A founder of the awards, Coralie continues to work extremely hard for the performing arts in our region. Her dedication and energy are to be applauded. At the event, Mr Brendan Smyth, the shadow minister for arts, was pleased to announce that, if elected this year, a Liberal government will commit $25,000 per year to the CAT awards to ensure their continued success in the region.
Finally, I thank the talented people who are involved in the performing arts in the ACT, particularly for their contribution to making Canberra such a vibrant place to live.
Madam Speaker, I would like to acknowledge and thank everyone who participated in Clean Up Australia Day here in the ACT last Sunday, particularly those who worked to clean up the area around Giralang Pond.
Co-founded by Ian Kiernan AO and Kim McKay AO, the first Clean Up Australia Day was held in 1990 and it is now Australia’s biggest community participation event. According to Clean Up Australia’s website, since Clean Up Australia Day started, Australians have devoted more than 27.2 million hours towards the environment through Clean Up Australia Day activities and collected over 288,000 tonnes of rubbish.
Last year an estimated 536,000 volunteers removed almost 16,000 tonnes of rubbish at over 7,000 sites across the country. Clean Up Australia Day provides a great opportunity for all of us to show how much we care for our local environments by the giving of our time to take practical action to keep our parks, gardens, roads and waterways healthy and litter free.
The Giralang Pond Landcare Group registered Giralang Pond as a Clean Up Australia Day site. Volunteers met at the weir in Giralang early on Sunday morning. Volunteers came equipped with gum boots, lots of sun screen and hats as we fought the 30-plus degree weather. We had a very successful event, with over 20 bags of rubbish being collected. We also had a wonderful visit by Forrest Gump, Giralang’s resident llama, which came to lend a hoof to the event.
Regrettably, in spite of the success of Clean Up Australia Day and the wonderful work they have done over many years, litter remains a huge problem everywhere. If people disposed of their litter properly and thoughtfully, a real difference could be
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