Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to share with Australia the most inspiring account of community action and social inclusion. For three years now, Hulbert Street, a local street in South Fremantle, has hosted the Spring Sustainability Fiesta that has worked to educate, inspire and support the more than 5,500 visitors who have flocked to this little street to celebrate sustainable living and to learn how to take on a more sustainable lifestyle.

This year over a weekend in mid-September every Hulbert Street household, 37 per cent of which are solar powered, participated in the fiesta, with one front yard converted into a woodworking shop and several homes, artists’ studios and gardens opened to share the environmental sustainability changes they have made to their lives with people living in streets beyond Hulbert. Local artisans, businesses, community groups and even a bank filled the street itself with displays and booths geared towards supporting people in their quest for sustainable living.

Fremantle is a community that has sustainability deep in its heart and it is leading the way when it comes to embracing renewable energy and green power, water conservation and reuse, home gardens and organic horticulture. But the Hulbert Street Sustainability Fiesta goes further in showing that sustainability is also about building connections and relationships within community.

I pay tribute to Shani Graham and Tim Darby and all the residents and friends of Hulbert Street for their creativity and energy and for their community spirit, dedication and generosity in sharing their place so that others may be inspired.

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