Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is with pleasure that I rise today to acknowledge and thank the many volunteers in my electorate of Bonner who are taking direct action to improve our community by protecting and enhancing our natural areas. I salute Carindale PCYC and the Bulimba Creek Catchment Coordinating Committee, B4C, who this month have united for a very worthy project—to build a community garden and to plant trees to offset development work being undertaken nearby.

The Carindale PCYC has taken advantage of the run-down parkland behind the PCYC building and a community garden space is being created. On 14 May a working bee was held to begin the first stage of planting 800 trees that will create a buffer of native vegetation, encouraging a wildlife corridor and habitat. This project is an opportunity to beautify the local area and will ultimately be an incredible place for the community to gather and enjoy.

Earlier in July the Bulimba Creek Catchment Coordinating Committee also organised a community planting day at Maisie Dixon Park at Eight Mile Plains. Since 2010, B4C has been working closely with the Department of Transport and Main Roads which covers Queensland's urban utilities to develop a program of environmental offsets and local parkland close to the areas that have been affected by their work. Maisie Dixon Park is one of those projects. B4C are working with the local Brisbane habitat group, Wishart Outlook Bushland Care, to choose suitable areas to remove the weeds, spread the mulch and replant native species. B4C has been recognised for the success of various projects through the national river prize in 2005, three healthy waterways community group awards and the Queensland urban land care award in 2009.

These initiatives are very much in line with one aspect of the coalition's direct action plan for the environment and climate change—the commitment to green corridors and urban forests and the planting of an additional 20 million trees by 2020. So often projects like these provide an opportunity for the community to come together and work towards a common goal and, in doing so, foster that sense of community spirit. In my experience, this is certainly the case with these two projects and I would like to commend the Carindale PCYC on their great work. (Time expired)

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