Chris Hayes (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Over the past 30 years I have lived in my electorate with my wife and family. It is an area of Sydney that we are very proud of. The south-west Sydney lifestyle is one of cultural diversity. Our love of sport may sometimes be a little more parochial than not, supporting the Wests Tigers, but we are very proud to live there and I am very proud to represent the interests of people who live in Western Sydney.

Last Sunday, I attended the spring fair of the Macarthur Centre for Sustainable Living. Apart from all the benefits that, as I said, are attributed to those of us who live in Western Sydney, we also have a centre that is concerned about the preservation of not only our lifestyle but also our environment. This organisation is funded by the Sustainable Regions Program through the Macarthur Regional Organisations of Councils. The centre is very much at the forefront of displaying the schemes available and the tangible benefits through conservation practices that we can bring to our lives at home and to our environment in south-west Sydney.

The spring fair was a remarkable event. It provided a unique opportunity to showcase not only the techniques but also the education underpinning them. It gave practical demonstrations of those things that we can all do within our environment to conserve water, such as the re-use of our grey water; to reduce our total reliance on electricity; and to reduce our level of waste through recycling and composting.

Apart from being the centre’s prime event to showcase its activity, it was also a fair, which was well attended by people within my community. It was heart warming to see the extent to which people were taking an interest in the preservation of their environment. They were keen to look at what they can do to recycle, to save water and to avoid waste. They were looking sensibly at various power options, including a mix of renewable and sustainable electricity generation. This fair is a credit to the area and certainly a credit to the Macarthur Centre for Sustainable Living.