Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Over the weekend, I joined hundreds of people throughout my electorate to help with Clean Up Australia Day. It is one of those amazing days throughout the year that reveal the magnitude of a community's spirit—schools, families, community groups and individuals, all coming together for the sake of a more beautiful environment. It is also a day that exposes just how much rubbish people are throwing onto the streets and into bushland, rivers and creeks.

On the day, I went to two areas to help, with events organised by the Bracken Ridge Central Lions Club and by the Redcliffe Environmental Forum. I pulled a shopping trolley and a spring bed frame out of a creek at Bracken Ridge. In Redcliffe, I filled two potato sacks with rubbish in about 45 minutes—and these were not big pieces of rubbish; they were cigarette butts, bottles and plastic bags. Every time someone throws a cigarette butt out the window or throws a bottle or plastic bag on the ground, either someone else has to pick it up or it ends up in the creek, damaging habitats. I hope the amount of rubbish that was collected on the day—more than 15,000 tonnes nationally—will encourage wilful litterers to stop. I would like to congratulate the people who helped out on Sunday and to congratulate those who put their rubbish where rubbish should go. Thank you for caring for our environment.