Matt Williams (Hindmarsh, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Clean Up Australia Day was held on 6 March, and I spent the day with a few community groups who rolled up their sleeves to dig in and clean up the mess left by littering members of our community. Littering is still a major blight on our community not only by polluting our open spaces and waterways but also, in some cases, killing our native animals or marine life.

I met Robyn Palmer, the site coordinator at the Tedder Reserve playground in Flinders Park, where I joined about a dozen parents and children who participated in the clean-up around the River Torrens. It was great to see so many young children pitching in and helping clean up the area. I want to pay a special tribute to Robyn for organising the Flinders site. I was informed by one of the parents that Robyn is also the driving force behind environmental projects at her children's school. I know from my children's school communities that it is often a small number of dedicated parents who put in an extraordinary amount of work in the local community. Anthony Thomas and Mel Davis-Bishop are two people who come to mind in my local West Beach. At the junior surf life saving carnival last weekend I saw them again putting in the hard yards. They do a great job for the West Beach Surf Life Saving Club as well as the West Beach Primary School. Congratulations to the Grange Surf Life Saving Club on winning the junior state titles last weekend, as well as Somerton Surf Life Saving Club that were the runner-up and who were fantastic hosts of the event.

To go back to the River Torrens, I was impressed by the work undertaken last year by another group of committed individuals along the River Torrens who were members of the coalition's Green Army. Another waterway that I helped clean up recently was Brownhill Creek at Kurralta Park, where I pulled out a bike tyre, some guttering and a heap of glass, amongst other items—that was the second site I visited on Clean Up Australia Day. The third and final site was on West Beach Road and Tapleys Hill Road, where the Ahmadiyya community again cleaned up the local area. I have helped them before at this location, and they do a great job reaching out to the community and helping out with community activities such as this. They had about 30 to 40 volunteers, the largest group that I saw at the Clean Up Australia Day sites. I want to pay tribute to the work they do in the community. They also attended a recent community coffee function I had with the Minister for Social Services at Henley Square.

Finally, also on 6 March, I attended the Melanoma March which was held at Henley Square. It included a walk north from the pedestrian walkway to Grange Jetty. Many walkers walked back to Henley to complete the four-kilometre path. It was a great crowd; many hundreds, in fact, including former Olympic champion basketballer Rachael Sporn, who has long been involved in promoting melanoma research. I was pleased to donate to support the cause and to participate. I congratulate the organisers on a successful event.